1 B 




Qass t) r tTZ ^ 



Case ...h.lr:/. Shelf:, 

L. M. R. 



;^E^n^%'E!E3^i^SeEI^^^E2^ScEIi!^^Ei:< 




to 

A YEAR 



BEING 



A Talk about some of the Implements, Plans and 

Practices of a Bee-keeper of 25 years' experience, 

who has for 8 years made the Production 

of Honey his Exclusive Business. 



By C. C. miller, m.d. 



6eXH< 



Cia:iC.A.GO, IIL.IL..: 

.OFFICE OF THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 

923 and 925 West Madison Street. 



^ 



6F 523 






JUN la 1891 

r 



IXTEODUCTION. 



One morning, five or six of us, who had occupied the same 
bed-room the previous night during the i^orth American Con- 
vention at Cincinnati, in 1882, were dressing preparatory to 
another day's w^ork. Among the rest were Bingham, of 
smoker fame, and Yandervort, the foundation-mill man. I 
think it was Prof. Cook who was chaffing these inventors, say- 
ing something to the effect that they were always at work 
studying how to get up something different from anybody 
else, and, if they needed an implement, would spend a dollar 
and a day's time to get up one " of their own make," rather 
than pay 25 cents for a better one ready-made. Vandervort, 
who sat contemplatively rubbing his shins, dryly replied : 
"But they take a world of comfort in it." I think all bee- 
keepers are possessed of more or less of the same spirit. 
Their own inventions and plans seem best to them, and in 
many cases they are right, to the extent that two of them, 
having almost opposite plans, would both be losers to 
exchange plans. 

In visiting and talking with other bee-keepers I am gener- 
ally prejudiced enough to think my plans are, on the whole, 
better than theirs, and yet I am always very much interested 
to know just how they manage, especially as to the little de- 
tails of common operations, and occasionally I find something 
so manifestly better that my own way, that I am compelled 
to throw aside my prejudice and adopt their better way. I 
suppose there are a good many like myself, so I think there 
may be those who will be interested in these bee-talks, where- 



4 A Year amokg the bees. 

in I shall try to tell honestly just how I do, talking in a 
familiar manner, without feeling obliged to say '' we " when 
I mean "I." Indeed I shall claim the privilege of putting 
in the pronoun of the first person as often as I please, and if 
the printer runs out of bigl's toward the last of the book, he 
can put in little i's. 

Moreover, I don't mean to undertake to lay down a method- 
ical system of bee-keeping, whereby one with no knowledge 
of the business can learn in " twelve short lessons " all about 
it, but will just talk about some of the things that I think 
would interest you, if we were sitting down together for a 
familiar chat. I take it you are familiar with the good books 
and periodicals that we as bee-keepers are blessed with, and 
in some things, if not most, you are a better bee-keeper than 
I ; so you have my full permission, as you go from page to 
page, to make such remarks as, '' Oh, how foolish!" "I 
know a good deal better way than that," etc., but I hope 
some may find a hint here and there that may prove useful. 

I have no expectation nor desire to w^rite a complete 
treatise on bee-keeping. Many important matters connected 
with the art I do not mention at all, because they have not 
come within my own experience. Others that have come 
within my experience I do not mention, because I suppose 
the reader to be already familiar with them. I merely try to 
talk about such things as I think a brother bee-keeper would 
be most interested in if he should remain with me during the 
year. 

As I want to get down to bee-talk as quickly as possible, I 
think I'll let this serve for both preface and introduction. As 
for dedication, there are lots of good friends I'd like to dedi- 
cate my little work to, but I hardly like to single out any one 
of them, unless it should be my blessed old mother, and she 
hardly knows a drone from a queen, so that would hardly do. 
On the whole, I think I'll not dedicate it to any one. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 



TAKING BEES OUT OF THE CELLAK. 

The diflSculty of wintering bees, at the north, is not 
entirely without its compensations. I am almost willing to 
meet some losses, for the sake of the sharp interest with 
which I look forward to the time of taking the bees out of 
the cellar in the spring. I live on a place of 37 acres, about 
a mile from the railroad station, and on my way down town 
there is a soft-maple tree which blooms in advance of all 
others, at least a day or two. How eagerly I watch that tree 
from the first bursting of the buds, and when the red of the 
blossom actually begins to push forth, with what a thrill of 
pleasure I say, " The bees can get out on the first good day !" 

In former years I did sometimes bring out the bees earlier, 
because they seemed so uneasy, but I doubt if I gained any- 
thing by it. I have known one or two years when a cold, 
freezing time came on at the time of maple bloom and I did 
not take out the bees for a good many days, but generally I 
go by the blooming of the soft maples. So I watch the ther- 
mometer and the clouds, and usually in a day or two there 
comes a morning, with the sun shining, and the mercury 
at 45° or 50°. This is one of the few times when I call in 
outside help ; for I want to make sure of getting out all the 
bees I can on the first warm day. So I leave word with a 
neighbor, Moses Dimon, or Mr. Tyler, who lives in my tenant 
house, the evening before, to be on hand in the morning if 
the weather is fine. My only son, Charlie, nearly 18 years 
old, is the best help I ever had at carrying bees, indeed, at a 
good deal of the bee-work, but he doesn't take kindly to the 
business. When little, he did not care much for a bee-sting, 
but a few years ago he got so that a sting made him spotted 
all over, even his tongue and ears swelling up, causing great 
suffering. I think he has entirely outgrown this difiiculty, 
but I am afraid he never will overcome the dread of a sting. 

Some object to carrying out many colonies at a time, for 
fear of their swarming-out, from the excitement of so many 



6 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

flying at once, but I have never had any difficulty in this 
direction. The evening before, I open all cellar doors and 
windows, and although the bees may roar for some time, 
usually they will be very quiet next morning. I generally 
stay in the cellar and help lift the hives off the pile. The 
entrances are left open just as they were all winter, the hives 
are carried quietly and set upon the farthest stands first, to 
avoid passing by them afterward. The covers are at once 
put on, and generally it will be some little time before they 
start to flying. Their remaining so quiet is partially the re- 
sult of their being handled carefully, but is mainly due, I 
think, to the thorough airing they have had in the cellar. 

Before each hive leaves the cellar, I make sure there are 
live bees in it by placing my ear to it, or lifting one end of 
the quilt. If any are dead, they are piled up to one side in 
the cellar. The stands of the home apiary are all filled, and 
the remaining hives are piled three high on a couple of sticks 
of firewood, not far from the cellar door. This is done so as 
to occupy little room, and necessitate their being carried a 
shorter distance when being put on the wagon to be hauled 
to the out apiary. 'No attention whatever is paid to numbers 
of hives on carrying out. Entrances are nearly closed after 
the first flight. 

NUMBERING HIVES. 

Numbers for hives are made in this way : Pieces of tin 4 
by 23^ inches have a small hole punched in each one, near the 
edge, about midway of one of the longer sides. With 3^-inch 
wire nails, nail them on the top of a wooden hive-cover or 
other plane surface. Then give them a couple of coats of 
white paint, and, when dry, put the numbers on them, from 
1 upward, with black paint. There is room to make figures 
large enough to be seen distinctly at quite a distance. I 
fasten these tin-tags on the front of the hive, by pushing a % 
or %-inch wire nail through the hole into the hive,with a cold- 
chisel. This does not disturb the bees as driving with a ham- 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 7 

mer would. I can easily take them off the hive by slipping 
the cold-chisel under the tin and prying up. 

When the hives are put on the stands in the spring, the 
numbers are all mixed up. The first thing to be done is to 
enter upon the record-book these numbers. The first hive in 
the back row should be JSTo. 1, the next No. 2, and so on ; but 
in the place of No. 1 stands perhaps 231, on the place of No. 
2 stands 174, etc. So, on the new record-book I write No. 1 
(231) on the first page at the top ; one- third the way down the 
page, I write No 2 (174), and so on. 

HAULING BEES. 

As soon as the bees have had a good flight, those that do not 
belong to the home apiary are ready to be hauled away. I 
like to get them away as soon as possible, but sometimes the 
state of the roads makes delay advisable. I haul them on a 
one-horse wagon, putting 3 hives into the wagon- box ; then a 
light rack, something like a hay-rack, on the box, holds eight 
more, making eleven at a load. A two-horse wagon with a 
hay-rack holds about twice as many, and I sometimes use 
one in hauling, but as I keep only one horse I generally use 
him alone. I formerly supposed that bees must be hauled 
on springs or on a couple of feet of hay, but Mr. T. L. Yon 
Dorn, of Omaha, told me he hauled them on a hay-rack with 
neither springs nor hay, and since then I have done the same 
with perfect success. I don't like to disturb the frames of 
the hives in any way before hauling them, as they remain 
firmer in place if their fastenings of bee-glue remain undis- 
turbed. 

To prepare the hives for hauling, nothing is done to the 
inside of the hive, the cover is taken off, and a piece of cotton- 
cloth or sheeting, large enough to cover the hive and project 
two or three inches at each side and end, is put on the hive, 
and the cover replaced. Then the cover is tied on by means 
of a strong cord or sheep-twine, going under the front cleat, 
then crossing like the letter X on the top and going under the 
back cleat. The entrance is closed by means of wire-cloth in 



8 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

this way: I take a stick as long'as the width of the hive or a 
little less, 1 inch in width, and % in thickness ; on this I 
nail, with double-pointed tacks, a doubled piece of wire- 
cloth, so that the doubled edge shall project below the stick 
a half an inch. A single thickness of wire cloth would ravel. 
This projecting wire cloth covers the entrance to the hive, 
which is 14 inch high and the full width of the hive, and 
furnishes all the ventilation necessary, unless in very hot 
weather. The " stopper," as I call it, is fastened to the hive 
by driving a 13^-inch wire nail an inch or two from each end 
of the stick, and deep enough into the hive to hold firmly, 
then bending over the part of the nail not driven in, so that, 
as the nail-hole in the stick grows larger from frequent use, 
there will be no danger of the stick slipping back from its 
place. 

Before putting the hives on the wagon, I examine each one 
carefully on all sides, above and below, to be sure that there 
is no possible chance for a bee to get out anywhere. I gen- 
erally drive on a walk, but sometimes trot on a smooth piece 
of road. I have hammer and nails with me to provide 
against any contingency, and also a smoker, having the 
smoker lighted if I want to feel doubly secure. In case any- 
thing goes wrong on the road, which of late rarely happens, 
I unhitch the horse as quickly as possible, and leave him 
some distance from the wagon till everything is made secure. 
If a bee gets on the horse's head, the first impulse of the 
horse seems to be to get to some place where he can rub. I 
immediately spring to his head, and with hands and arms 
rub over his head and neck, taking care that, in his efforts to 
rub against me, he does not knock me over with his head. 

When the hives are placed on their stands, in the out 
apiary, the two nails are drawn from the stoppers with a 
claw-hammer, and the stoppers very carefully removed. 
Sometimes I use a little smoke. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 



SPKING OYEEHAULmG. 



Unless there is special reason for it, such as the fear of 
immediate starvation, no hive is opened until the bees have 
had one day for a good cleansing flight. This flight is usually- 
taken on the day of setting out. Sometimes, however, a hive 
may be set out so late in the day that very few of its inmates 
fly till the next day, although I usually stop taking out, if I 
think a good flight will not he taken before night. After this 
cleansing flight is taken, the bees are ready to be overhauled 
on the first fine day, or the first day they can fly, for there 
may happen one or more days when bees cannot fly, and if 
frames of brood are taken out, the brood may be chilled. 
Besides, I am afraid it is not good for the bees themselves to 
be stirred up at such times, and it is not pleasant for the 
operator. 

The bees that are taken to the out apiary on one day are 
generally overhauled the next. This out apiary is about 3 
miles distant in a bee-line. It would, no doubt, be better 
farther away, but it is on the farm of John Wilson, my wife's 
father, who, v^^ith his " gude wife " Margaret, are rugged old 
Scotch people, and as my wife and her sister Emma are my 
principal assistants, it is so pleasant for them to make fre- 
quent visits to the spot where they were born, that I forego 
the advantage of having the apiary at a greater distance. I 
believe there might be an advantage in dividing up into a 
larger number of apiaries, and probably I shall act upon this 
belief. 

But now let us proceed to the overhauling. I get my tool- 
box, bee hat and smoker, and go to hive l^o. 1, although the 
tag on it may say 231. Before this, however, an empty hive 
has been cleaned, more likely several ; perhaps Charlie is 
cleaning them as fast as I use them. 

After trying a number of different things for hive-cleaners, 
I have been best satisfied with a hatchet, the handle sawed 
short, so that it v^ill not be in the way when working in the 



10 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

bottom of the hive, the edge very dull and a perfectly straight 
line, and the outside part of the blade also ground to a straight 
line and at right angles with the edge. This right-angled 
corner is to clean out the corners of the hive, especially the 
rabbets. In cleaning, the hatchet is moved rapidly back and 
forth, or rather from side to side, the blade being held at 
right angles to the surface being cleaned. The weight of 
the hatchet is quite a help, something like a fly-wheel in 
machinery. The propolis is scraped out of the hive and 
especial pains taken to clean the rabbets. 

Having a hive ready, now for a seat. Bro. Doolittle once 
tried to poke a little fun at me in convention, because I acci- 
dentally admitted that I sat down to work at bees. If I were 
obliged to work all the season without a seat, I am afraid I 
would have to give up the business from exhaustion. More- 
over, if I had the strength of a Samson I don't think I should 
waste it stooping over hives, so long as I could get a seat. I 
generally have three or four seats about the apiary, and I 
just take for a seat a box in which 500 sections have been 
shipped, whittling a hole in it to carry it by. By placing it 
differently, it gives me a seat of three different heights, 
suitable for working at a one-story hive, or one with supers 
tiered up on it. 

Having placed my seat beside the hive to be overhauled, I 
put the empty hive beside it, the back end of the empty hive 
at the front end of the full hive, or else the front end of the 
empty hive at the back end of the full one. Lifting off the 
cover, I give one or two puffs of smoke at the entrance, then 
slowly peeling up the quilt with one hand, I blow a little 
smoke lightly, with the other, across the tops of the frames, 
not down into the cluster of bees. Still keeping the smoker 
in one hand, I pry up the frames at each end with a chisel 
made from an old file nearly a foot long; one end, the end I 
have just been using for prying loose the frames, being made 
square for about three inches of its length and brought to a 
blunt point, the other end like any cold-chisel, and about one 
inch wide. The frames will not need prying up again till 



A YEAE, AMONG THE BEES. 11 

toward fall, when the accumulation of propolis will make the 
chisel again necessary. 

Mr. A. I. Root, I suppose, would say I ought to have metal 
corners to my frames and avoid the necessity of prying them 
loose. I tried two such hives made by him and I didn't like 
them. For one thing, my frames, as they are, are ready 
spring and fall, for hauling, without any nailing or fastening 
of any kind. Right here is a good place to enter a protest 
against the belief that I think my plans and fixtures are, 
under all circumstances, better than those of any one who 
differs from me. Mine may be best for me, and his for him. 
Or, it may be that if I knew enough about his, or had tried 
them in the right way, I would at once discard mine and adopt 
his. I think I am rather conservative about changes, old 
fogy if you like, but I expect to keep making changes so long 
as I keep bees. 

Having finished using the chisel, or even if I should put it 
out of my hand for a minute, I must at once put it in the box. 
Formerly, I sometimes put a tool on the ground, and then I 
would forget where I put it, and perhaps not find it for two 
or three days. If, for any reason, I do not want to put it in 
the box, I put it on the top of a hive, so I can see it from a 
distance. 

After loosening the frames, I lift out the one at the south 
side, (the hives face east), and place it in the empty hive ; 
then the next frame, and so on, watching for the first frame 
with brood. This frame of brood is placed next to the south 
frame in the new hive, but before putting it there I glance 
to see whether the queen is on it. I have always noticed 
that the bees, if left to themselves, have little or no brood in 
the south frame, but always a fine supply of pollen. When 
the brood-nest has become sufficiently enlarged it will always 
be found extending to this south frame, although there may 
be two or three frames without brood at the north side, and 
the south frame will be kept throughout the season as a store- 
house for honey and pollen ; this seeming to be desired by 
the bees, and convenient, as well, for me. Of course, if the 



12 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

brood-nest is contracted the case is different. I always, in 
overhauling, put the frame with most pollen at the south and 
let the brood-nest commence next to it. 

If I do not see the queen on first time going over the frames, 
which is quite possible, as I do not spend much time looking 
for her, I look over the frames the second, perhaps the third 
time, but if not found then, I let her go till some other time. 
The object in looking for the queen is to see if her wing is 
clipped. If clipped, I enter in the record-book, (supposing 
May 10, 1886 to be the date). May 10 g. d. ( ) leaving the 
parenthesis empty. If I find the queen's wing undipped I 
clip it and make the entry May 10 d. q. (85), meaning that I 
clipped the queen May 10, and that she was hatched in 1885, 
although in rare instances I have known a queen to be super- 
seded in the spring. 

After clipping the wing of the queen I put her on the top 
of a frame directly over the brood-nest. If you hold her on 
your finger over the brood-nest she displays a great degree 
of perverseness and persists in crawling up your hand, 
right away from her proper home. So I let her crawl upon a 
leaf, little stick or other object, lay this on the frames, and 
she will directly go down into the cluster. If, in overhauling, 
any frames are found with drone comb, or holes in the coinb, 
they are placed, if containing no brood, at the extreme north 
side of the frames; if one has brood in, it is placed the 
north frame of the brood-nest. 

As before mentioned, the south frame is broodless, then 
if there are only one or two frames with brood in, the 
division-board is put next to them ; if several frames have 
brood, and the colony is strong, a frame without brood is put 
north of the brood-nest, before the division- board is put in. 
The point is to give plenty of room for the queen to lay, but 
no more than will be actually used till they are likely to be 
overhauled again. 

Generally, instead of returning defective combs, the defects 
are at once remedied. I turn these combs over to Emma, 
who mends them at the time. If they are not wired frames 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 13 

she may mefld them in this way : She takes a common tea 
knife with a thin, narrow, sharp blade, cuts out the piece of 
drone comb if the hole is not already made, lays the frame 
over a piece of worker comb, (this piece of worker comb may 
be the part or whole of some old or objectionable comb), with 
the point of the knife marks out the exact size and shape of 
the hole, removes the frame, cuts out the piece, and crowds 
it into the hole. Or, the following plan may be used, and is 
always used if the frame is wired : After the hole is made, 
(the mice have probably made the holes in the wired frames), 
the cells on one side are cut away to the base for a distance 
of M to 3^ inch from the hole, and a piece of foundation cut 
to the right size is placed over the hole and the edge pressed 
down upon the base that surrounds the hole. The founda- 
tion must not be too cold. Before fall these patches cannot 
be detected, unless by the lighter color where the foundation 
has been used. 

When all the frames are properly placed in the new hive, 
the now empty one is removed from the stand, and the full 
one takes its place. Sometimes I make this change when 
half the frames are in each hive, as they are then easier to 
lift. The quilt and cover being put on the hive, the old hive 
is placed in front or a little to one side, with one corner of its 
alighting-board resting on the alighting-board of the full 
hive, and in 10 or 15 minutes the few stragglers left in the old 
hive will have crawled in with the rest of the colony. 

In this way the whole apiary is gone over, the hives being 
cleaned as fast as they are emptied, and then filled up again. 
The number-tags are removed from the hives at the time of 
cleaning, and when all colonies are overhauled the numbers 
are put on the hives in proper numerical order. The same 
number remains on the same stand through the entire season, 
and if, for any reason, two hives are exchanged, their number- 
tags are changed, and the record-book changed accordingly. 
No duplicate numbers are used, for it would make confusion 
if there were a ISTo. 1 or i^o. 2 in the Wilson as well as the 
home apiary. 



14 A YEAR AMOKGfTHE BEES. 

You remember, on finding a queen with wing clipped, (and 
nearly all will be so), I made the entry, May 10 g. cL ( ). 
The full record will appear " ISTo. 1, (231) May 10 q. cl. ( ) 
br. in 3," meaning there was brood in three frames. The 
blank in the parenthesis remains to be filled. This may be 
done at any time when convenient ; in the evening, or the 
first rainy day. Looking at the previous year's record-book 
I find the queen of ISTo. 231 was hatched in 1884, so in the 
blank parenthesis I write ''84." 

HIYES, COVERS AI^D STANDS. 

Kow that the apiary is all in running order, you may want 
to take a look at it. You '' don't think it looks remarkably 
neat V " Neither do I. If I had only a dozen colonies and 
were keeping them for the pleasure of it, I should have their 
hives painted, perhaps ornamented with scroll work, but 
please remember that I am keeping them for profit, and I 
cannot afford anything for looks. Some of them are painted 
with a cheap, reddish brown, mineral paint, but that was 
some years ago and they look very dingy. More of them are 
unpainted, and the oldest of these look dingier still. 1 sup- 
pose they would last longer if painted, but hardly enough 
longer to pay for the paint. Besides, in the many changes 
constantly taking place, how do I know that I may not want 
to throw these aside and adopt a new hive ? I have already 
changed three times, having begun in 1861 with a full-sized 
sugar-barrel, changing the next year to Quinby box-hives, 
then to a movable-frame hive made by J. F. Lester, and 
afterward when J. Vandervort, the foundation-mill man, 
came and lived perhaps a year in Marengo, I bought out his 
stock of hives, and all my hives are now of that pattern. I 
supposed they were the exact Langstroth pattern, but they 
have frames %-inch longer and 7-32 shallower. If I were 
commencing I think I should have the regular Langstroth 
size, although mine are so nearly the same, that I don't 
suppose the result would be noticeably different. They hold 



A YeAr among the Sees. 15 

iO frames, and, on some accounts, I should like them to hold 
11. They have tight bottoms and no portico. 

At the risk of losing caste as a bee-keeper, I am obliged to 
confess that I never got up " a hive of my own," never even 
tried to plan one, but I have tried no little to get up a hive- 
cover to suit me. A hive is so seldom moved that I care less 
for its weight, but when I, or, more particularly, my female 
assistants, have to lift covers all day long, when hot and 
tired, a pound difference in weight is quite an item. The 
first covers I had for my present hives were 8 inches deep, 
and I have just weighed one which was a little wet, and it 
weighs over 18 pounds. I cut down the depth to 4 inches, but 
they were still heavy, and leaked, no matter how well painted, 
nor how well seasoned the stuff. I then got up a couple of 
hundred very shallow and light, covered with white oil-cloth, 
weighing 43^ lbs. These, when new, are about perfection, 
but the second season the oil-cloth begins to give way and 
then they are something of a nuisance. I suppose it might 
pay to put on fresh oil-cloth every year or two, but I didn't 
want to fuss so much, and the last I made were covered with 
tin, being 13^-inches deep, the top boards of %-inch stuff, 
covered with tin, then painted with two coats of white lead. 
A block ixJ^xJi nailed on one end serves for a handle. This 
makes a tolerably light cover, 534 pounds, is durable and 
perfectly water-tight. The greatest objection is the cost, 
from 20 to 25 cents each. 

In getting covers, hives and other articles made, I have 
suffered great annoyance from inaccuracy of work. A 
cabinet-maker was once quite indignant because I intimated 
that he could not make a satisfactory bee-hive. I gave him 
one of Yandervort's make for a pattern, and when I came to 
see the first one he made, it was a model of workmanship, 
except that there was no place for a bee to enter and not a 
frame would go in ! (He ^as not to make any frames.) Of 
late years I get nearly everything in the flat from G. B. Lewis 
& Co., Watertown, Wis., and I count myself fortunate in 
being so near them that freights are not heavy. Their work 



16 A Year amokg the bees. 

is remarkable for neatness and accuracy, and they are so 
upright and accommodating, that it is a pleasure to do busi- 
ness with them. There is a hive-cover of their manufacture, 
to which Mr. L. Highbarger called my attention, that I might 
have adopted if I had known about it in time, although 
heavier than mine. I think it must be perfectly water-tight, 
even without paint. The top is of two boards, jointed 
together by means of a strip of tin bent into the shape of an 
inverted Y, and this tin fits into a saw-kerf cut into each 
board at an angle of 45°. 

Some of my stands are very dilapidated affairs. The latest 
made are cheap and substantial. Three pieces of fence- 
board, each 2 feet long and 6 inches wide, are nailed upon a 
cleat at each end, 18x4x1 inch. Two similar cleats, but loose, 
lie on the ground under the first-mentioned cleats. This 
makes it equivalent to cleats of two -inch stuff, with the 
decided advantage that only the loose cleat will rot away by 
lying on the ground, without spoiling the whole stand. These 
stands are leveled with a spirit-level before the hives are 
placed on them, (sometimes not till afterward), being made 
perfectly level from side to side, and the rear about two 
inches higher than the front. 

The two stands and hives are placed in pairs, Nos. 1 and 2 
being 21 inches apart from center to center, ]^os. 2 'and 3 
about 3 ft. 7 in. from center to center, (sometimes more, as 
my wife prefers them farther apart), I^os. 3 and 4 the same 
as 1 and 2, and so on alternately. This makes about 3 inches 
between the two stands that make each pair, and a working 
space or alley of about two feet between each pair. 

This putting in pairs is quite a saving of room ; for if room 
were allowed for working on each side of each hive, only 
three-fourths the number could be got into the row. But so 
far as the bees are concerned, it is equivalent to putting in 
double the number ; that is, there is no more danger of a bee 
going into the wrong hive by mistake, than if only a single 
hive stood where each pair stands. If hives stood very close 
together at regular intervals, a bee might by mistake go into 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 17 

the wrongs hive, but if a colony of bees is in the habit, as 
mine generally are, of going into the south end of their 
entrance, they will never make the mistake of entering at 
the north end, as you will quickly see if you plug up, alter- 
nately, the north and south end of the entrance. When the 
north end is closed it does not affect the bees at all, but close 
the south end, and dire consternation follows. To the bees 
the pair of hives is much the same as a single hive, and they 
will not make the mistake of entering the wrong end. 

From the back of a hive in one row to the back of a hive 
in the next row is eight feet, leaving a street about 6 feet 
wide between the rows. 

Trees shade most of the hives at least a part of the day, 
and at one end of the apiary the trees were so thick that I 
cut out part of them. I had previously thought that shade 
was important and that with sufficient shade there was never 
any danger of bees suffering from heat, but after having 
combs melt down in a hive so densely shaded by trees that 
the sun did not shine on it all day long, I changed my mind. 
I value the shade these trees give, not for the good it does 
the bees, but for the comfort of the operator working at 
them . I don't believe bees suffer as much from the hot sun 
shining directly on the hives, as they do from having the air 
shut off from them by surrounding objects. I have had 
combs melt down in hives, the honey running in a stream on 
the ground, one of the hives at least being in a shade of 
trees so dense the sun never shone on it, and I suspect it was 
for lack of air. A dense growth of corn was directly back of 
the hives, and a dense growth of young trees and underbrush 
in front. I didn't know enough to notice this, although when 
working at the bees my shirt w^ould be as wet as if dipped 
in the river. I had the young trees thinned out and trimmed 
up, the corn-ground in grass, so the air could get through, 
and I now work with more comfort, and no comb has melted 
down for years, although that may be partly because they 
are older or wired. 



18 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 



FEEDIA^G MEAL. 



I used to read about feeding meal in tlie spring. I tried it, 
put out rye meal, and not a bee would touch it; baited them 
with honey, and if they took the honey, they left the meal. 
Finally, one day, I saw a bee alight on a dish of flour set in 
a sunny place. It went at it in a rollicking manner as if 
delighted. I was more delighted. At last I had in some 
way got the thing right, and my bees would take meal. The 
bee loaded up, and lugged off its load, and I waited for it and 
others to come for more. They didn't come, and that was 
the first and last load taken that year. I cannot tell now 
exactly when the change came about, neither do I know that 
I have done anything different, but I have no trouble now in 
getting the bees to take bushels of meal. I suppose the 
simple explanation is that there was plenty of natural pollen 
for the few bees I had in the first years, but not enough for 
the larger number of colonies I had later. 

About as soon as the bees are set out in the spring, I begin 
feeding them meal. For this purpose I like shallow boxes, 
and generally use hive-covers 4 inches deep. These are 
placed in a sunny place about a foot apart, one end raised 
three or four inches higher than the other. This may be 
done by putting a stone under one end, although I generally 
place them along the edge of a little ditch where no stone is 
needed, and they can be whirled around as if on a central 
pivot. One feed- box is used for every 10 to 20 colonies, 
although I am guided rather by what the bees seem to need, 
adding more boxes as fast as the ones already given are 
crowded with bees. 

I can hardly tell what I have not used for meal. I have 
used meal or flour of pretty much all the grains, bran, shorts 
and all the different feeds used for cows in this noted dairy 
region, including even the yellow meal brought from glucose 
factories for cow feed, although, if this last were known, it 
might be reported that I filled parafline combs with glucose 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 19 

and sealed them over with a hot butcher-knife. I think this 
glucose meal is perhaps the poorest feed I have used. As to 
the rest I hardly know which is best, and I have of late used 
principally corn and oats ground together, partly because I 
was using that for horse and cow feed, and partly because I 
think it may be as good as any. 

When the feed-boxes are put in place, in the morning, (and 
I commence this feeding just as soon as the bees are out of 
the cellar), I put in each box at the raised end about four to 
six quarts, (the quantity is not very material), of the feed. 
The more compact, and the less scattered the feed the better. 
The bees will gradually dig it down till it is all settled in the 
lower end of the box, just the same as so much water would 
settle there. This may take an hour, or it may take six, 
according to circumstances. As often as they dig it down, I 
reverse the position of the box, just whirling it around if it 
stands on the edge of the ditch. This brings the meal again 
at the raised end of the box. When the bees have it dug 
down level there is little to be seen on the top except the 
hulls of the oats, and what fun it is to see the bees burrow 
in this, sometimes clear out of sight. 

It is always a source of amusement to see the bees working 
on this meal, and the young folks watch them by the half- 
hour. By night the oats, meal and finer parts of the corn are 
nearly all worked out, and after the bees have stopped work- 
ing, the boxes are emptied, piled up, one on top of another, 
and at the top, one placed upside down so that no dew or 
rain may affect them. If I think it is not worked out pretty 
clean, I may let them work it over next day, putting three or 
four times as much in a box. When the bees are done with 
it, there will be empty oat-hulls on top, and the coarse part 
of the corn on the bottom. It does not matter if it is not 
worked out clean, for it is fed to the horse and cows after- 
wards. 

After the first day's feeding, the boxes must be filled in 
good season in the morning, or the bees annoy very much by 
being in the way, and throughout the day, while the bees are 
at work, if I go among the feed-boxes to turn them, or for 



20 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

any other purpose, I must look sharp where I set my feet, or 
bees will be killed, as they are quite thick over the ground, 
brushing the meal off their bodies and packing their loads. 
Before many days the meal-boxes are deserted for the now 
plenty natural pollen, although if you watch the bees, as they 
go laden into the hives, even when working thickest in the 
boxes, you will see a. good many carrying in heavy loads of 
natural pollen. 

It seems to be a beneficent natural law, that bees do not 
like to crowd one another in their search for pollen or nectar, 
or else the meal-boxes would be untouched and all the bees 
would work upon the insufficient supply of pollen. In conse- 
quence of this law it is necessary to furnish a sufficient 
number of boxes, for although the bees will work quite 
thick if only 5 boxes are left for 150 hives, they will work no 
thicker if only one box is left. 

FEEDING SYRUP. 

I have fed barrels of syrup in the open air, and although I 
have not done so for a year or two, circumstances might 
possibly arise to make it again advisable. The feed was put 
in milk-pans and dripping-pans, and at the last I had some 
tin-pans, purposely made, which were used the rest of the 
year as milk-pans. They cost about 25 cents each and were 
made nearly square, being 12 inches long on the bottom and 
11 inches wide, 33^-inches deep, and flaring so as to be one 
inch wider and longer at the top than at the bottom. 

After fussing with cheese-cloths and different floats I 
settled upon the following float : A bottom of boards 34-iiich 
thick, 11^ by 10^ so as to be 34-inch less than bottom of pan, 
on which were nailed, or rather the bottom boards were 
nailed upon, 12 strips ll%xl}4x%, these strips being about 
3^ -inch apart. At one corner, about an inch square was cut 
out, so that syrup might be poured in while the bees were at 
work, without pouring directly on the bees. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 21 

Tor filling, I used a common tin watering-pot with the rose 
taken off, and a funnel with the lower end made about 23^- 
feet long, so as to avoid stooping. 

The syrup is made of granulated sugar. Into a kettle on 
the stove, I put five quarts of hot water. When at or near 
the boiling-point, 25 pounds of sugar are slowly poured in, 
stirring all the while, and the stirring is kept up till the 
syrup becomes clear. To each quart of this syrup 2 quarts of 
water are added as it is poured in the feeding-can, using hot 
and cold water in such proportions that the thinned syrup 
shall be as hot or hotter than the finger can be borne in it. 
Even if it should be hot enough to scald bees, it is cooled by 
what is already in the feed dishes. 

There are serious objections to this out-door feeding. You 
are not sure what portion of it your own bees will get, if 
other bees are in flying distance. Considerable experience 
has proved to me that by this method of feeding, the strong 
colonies get the lion's share, and the weak colonies very little. 
Moreover, I have seen indications that part of the colonies 
get none, both of the weak and strong. You are also 
dependent on the weather, as wet and chilly days may come, 
when bees cannot fly. 

These difficulties are obviated by feeding at night at the 
entrance, or by feeding in the hive. After trying various 
feeders, and ways of feeding, at the entrance and in the hive, 
I have settled upon the old way of feeding in the combs. I 
think I first got the idea from Quinby's book, or from the 
writings of L. C. Eoot. 

Filling the combs, with the greatest care that can be taken, 
is hardly a job suitable to be undertaken in a room carpeted 
with Brussels. Although I have improved upon my first 
method of filling, so that the amount of daubiness and 
stickiness is reduced perhaps fifty per cent. ; yet,when Emma, 
who is the filler, is through filling a hundred frames, although 
not ordinarily proud, she is decidedly '' stuck up." I speak 
of Emma as the filler, because we carry into practice (although 
there are only four of us) the doctrine of division of labor, 



22 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

each one having his specialty. I find it a great saving of 
time. For instance, Charlie puts together the sections, and 
Emma puts in the foundation, and they are such adepts that 
it is a pleasure to watch them at work ; but if they were to 
change places, both would make slow, bungling w^ork. As a 
general rule, I practice each kind of work, until I settle upon 
what I think a good plan, and then it is given over to the 
specialist, who may make such improvement as further 
experience suggests. So, when for the sake of convenience, 
I speak of doing a certain thing, it may be that I may not 
have, with my own hands, touched, such work for a year. 

I^ow, as to filling combs with syrup : The syrup is made 
in a wash-boiler, about 4 pounds of suga^toeach quart of 
water. It must be made some little time before used, so as 
to have time to cool, or the syrup may be made with less 
water and filled up with cold water. I have a tin-pan S}4 to 
4 inches deep, slightly flaring, so as to be about an inch 
larger at the top than bottom, the bottom about half an inch 
longer than the top-bar of the frame, and about an inch 
wider than the depth of the frame. This pan is put in a box 
without top or bottom, made of 6-inch wide fence-boards, 
and large enough so that w^hen the pan is in it, there is 
about an inch play lengthwise, and scarcely any play laterally. 
Another box is made without top or bottom, 18 or 20 inches 
deep, 'the ends of %-inch stuff, the sides of thin stuff, and 
the outside dimensions about half an inch less than the 
inside dimensions of the box first described. 

The pan sets on the floor inside the shallow box, and the 
deep box also sets inside the shallow box, resting on top of 
the pan. The object of the deep box is, that the syrup, 
instead of spattering all over the floor and one's clothes, may 
strike against the side of the box and run down into the pan. 
An old tin quart fruit-can is placed upside down on a very 
hot stove, or on the fire, till the end becomes unsoldered and 
drops off. With a 2% inch No. 12 wire nail I punch holes in 
the bottom, making a row around the outer edge about ^ 
of an inch apart, ^ of an inch inside of this another row, 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 23 

then inside of this again filling up the space with holes about 
% of an inch apart. The holes are punched from the inside, 
so that the little projections will be outside, which is, I think, 
quite important. Near the upper edge two holes are punched 
on the opposite sides. Through one of these holes I put a 
piece of wire perhaps a foot long, and fasten together the 
ends by twisting, then serve the other hole the same way. 
Into each of these wires is tied one end of a string, the other 
end being fastened to a nail or staple in the ceiling, the two 
nails in the ceiling being about 4 feet apart, and the strings 
long enough so that the bottom of the can hangs rather less 
than a foot above the top of the deep or upper box. The 
strings run across and not lengthwise of the box. A boiler 
or tub of the warm syrup stands conveniently by, and with 
a short-handled 2quart tin dipper the can is quickly filled, 
and through each hole in the bottom of the can runs a stream, 
which forces its way into the cells of the frame of brood- 
comb, which has been placed in the bottom of the pan. The 
can is easily moved about, so as to fill all parts of the comb. 

When one side of the comb is filled (no matter if filled to 
overflowing), the dipper is slipped under the can, to hold it 
out of the way, and one end of the frame is lifted and the 
other side of the comb turned uppermost and filled. The 
frame is then lifted and put in a super which stands over a 
dripping-pan, and when this super is filled, others are piled 
on it and filled till the pile is inconveniently high and another 
pile is commenced. The hotter the syrup is, the more easily 
the combs are filled, but if too hot, you may find that after 
standing some time, your nice worker combs have dropped 
out, leaving nothing but wires in the frames. About 125° is 
as hot as will be safe. 

From time to time the pan, in which the frames are placed 
to be filled, will become pretty well filled with syrup. I don't 
know that it hinders work if it is one-quarter full, but when- 
ever it needs emptying, the deep box is lifted off, then the 
shallow one, when the pan can be lifted. I have tried having 
tlie holes in the can closer together, or otherwise differently 



24 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES, 

made from the plan mentioned, but not with satisfaction. 
Unless the streams, as they leave the can, continue separate 
till they strike the comb, the filling will be, to say the least, 
slower. 

When I first had combs filled in this way, much annoyance 
was caused by the frequent clogging of the holes in the can. 
Finally, Emma thought of putting a wire-strainer in the top 
of the can, such a one, I think, as is sometimes used for 
straining tea, and there has been no further trouble. I have 
spoken only of feeding sugar, but if I have on hand any dark 
honey, or that which is in any way objectionable, now is the 
time to use it. 

FUETHER SPRING WORK. 

I would like to say that I am very methodical about over- 
hauling and seeing to the building up of colonies, from the 
time they are placed on the summer stands, till the honey 
harvest begins, but it would hardly be in accordance with 
facts. Indeed, I am afraid there have been cases in which 
a hive has not been overhauled for the first time, till it needed 
a super. If I were sure of getting around in time to see to 
each colony the second time, before it had increased much 
in size, I should always close up with a division-board, 
leaving barely enough room for the queen to occupy for a 
short time. As, however, I am not always uniform in the 
matter, I said little about division- boards when talking 
about overhauling. 

The fact is, every hive has its division-board, which is a 
very simple affair. A board of inch pine, unplaned, is made 
about % iiich shorter than the inside length of the hive, and 
deep enough so that when the division-board is finished it 
shall reach within % of an inch of the bottom. This board 
is re-sawed, making two boards about % of an inch in 
thickness. A strip the same length as a top-bar and %^% 
is nailed on the edge, and the division-board is complete. 

It is reasonable to believe that a colony is better able to 
build up in the. spring, if it has only a small space to keep 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 25 

warm, being closed in by a division-board, and well covered 
over the top, and yet I have been disappointed to find less 
difference resulting, than it seems to me there ought to be. 
If my colonies were all good and strong in the spring, I am 
not sure but I might do as well to give them the full quota 
of combs and let them fill up at leisure. I usually allow, at 
the first overhauling, at least plenty of room, although a 
weak colony may be shut down to the two or three combs in 
which brood is found. 

If I find a colony short of stores, at the first overhauling, 
it is supplied immediately, either with a comb of honey from 
some colony which has died, or with a comb of sugar syrup. 
I have had, one time and another, a good many very weak 
colonies in the spring, and I am puzzled to know what to do 
with them. It seems of no use to unite them, for I have 
united five into one, and the united colony seemed to do no 
better than one left separate. About all I try to do, is to keep 
the queen alive till I find some queenless colony with which to 
unite them. 

One year I took the queens of five or six very weak colonies, 
put them in small cages, and laid the cages on top of the 
frames, under the quilt, over a strong colony. When I next 
overhauled this colony, its queen was gone, probably killed 
by the bees on account of the presence of other queens, but 
the queens in the cages were in good condition, and became 
afterward the mothers of fine colonies. I had put two of the 
queens in one cage, as I was short of cages, and did not 
attach much value to the queens, and these two did as well 
as the others. Of course this was an exception to the general 
rule. 

And now my lack of system in spring confronts me, and 
makes it difiicult for me to represent things as they really 
are. I said the first thing after I got the bees out was to 
overhaul them, giving stores to such as were short. This is 
hardly correct as to all times. When I fed in the open air, 
this feeding rather preceded the overhauling. While the 
bees were being taken out of the cellar, any specially light 



26 A YKAK AMONG THE BEES. 

colonies were set by themselves or otherwise noted, so that 
stores might be given them immediately, and generally th^se 
were overhauled at the same time. When the general 
feeding is done in the hives, perhaps I can come nearest this 
truth to say that feeding and overhauling are simultaneous. 

I fancy I can hear my good friends, Mr. A. I. Boot and 
Prof. Cook, saying, " Why don't you keep a smaller number 
of colonies, so that you can have system enough to be able 
to tell a straight story, and derive more pleasure and profit V" 
I know it would be more pleasure ; as to the profit, I doubt. 
If I had so few that I could at all times do" every thing by a 
perfect system, I am afraid I should have part of the time a 
good deal of idle time on my hands. Neither is it fair for 
me to charge my lack of system entirely to the number of 
colonies. Some of it comes from ignorance in not knowing 
how to do any better, some of it from changing plans con- 
stantly, and perhaps some of it from lack of energy in doing 
every thing just at the right time. 

Whatever may be true about spring feeding, I am pretty 
fully settled in the belief that it is of first importance that 
the bees should have an abundant supply of stores, whether 
such supply be furnished from day to day by the bee-keeper, 
or stored up by the bees themselves six months or a year 
previously. Moreover, f believe they build up more rapidly 
if they have not only enough to use from day to day, but a 
reserve or visible supply for future use. If a colony comes 
out of the cellar strong, and with combs full of stores, I 
have some doubts if I can hasten its building up by any 
tinkering I can do. So my feedmg in spring is to make sure 
they have abundant stores, rather than for the stimulation 
of frequent giving. There is a theoretical advantage— how 
much it may amount to in practice I cannot say — in having 
the combs filled ; that is, that there is less air-space for the 
bees to keep warm. 

One advantage in feeding in the combs is that your feeders 
are always ready at no extra expense, for at any time when 
feeding is needed there are plenty of empty combs, and if 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 27 

the combs are all full there is no need of feeding. Some 
combs used for feeding may be a quarter or half full of 
honey, and if I desire this to be removed by the bees, the 
sealing must be broken before the comb is filled with syrup. 
I do not know how I like to do this best. If I mash the cells 
down with the flat of a knife, some of them are missed. An 
uncapping knife makes good work; but the quickest and 
easiest way probably, I learned from M. M. Baldridge. Take 
a common three-tined steel fork with prongs not over one- 
fifth of an inch apart, and merely scratch the surface. A 
possible objection to this plan is that the scratching may be 
too deep, and the cell walls broken down. 

In my locality I do not think the colonies can ever become 
strong and populous too early in the season. Theoretically, 
at least, then, I see that every colony as soon as it comes out 
of the cellar, has plenty of stores to last it for sometime. I 
know this is a very indefinite amount. Perhaps I might 
make it more definite by saying, for an ordinary colony, the 
equivalent of two full combs of stores. If they have not so 
much I supply them. I formerly thought it desirable to have 
any feed given them, as far as possible from the brood-nest, 
so that they might have the feeling they were accumulating 
from abroad. Further observation makes me place less 
confidence in this. 

I once gave a frame of feed to a colony having five frames, 
closed up with a division-board. The north half of the hive 
was empty. For some reason I put in with the frame of feed 
a frame of clean empty comb, placing the two combs at the 
extreme north side of the hive, as far as I could get them 
from the bees. The bees emptied the frame of feed, and 
stored it in the empty comb at the side ! I think there was 
plenty of room for the feed in the five frames occupied by 
the bees. Eor this spring feeding, then, I put the frames 
of feed inside the division -board. Its being dauby and 
sticky is enough to make the bees promptly empty it, n 
matter where it is placed. 



28 A YRAR AMONG THE BEES. 

At one time I thought if such a comb were placed in the 
middle of the brood-nest, they would clean it up and not 
empty it, but their instinct seems to compel them to empty 
entirely every cell that is not in proper order. At one time 
I took the cappings carefully off a part of a finished section, 
the capping being dark, and put the section back in the 
super, thinking the bees would immediately cap it afresh 
with lighter material. Those bees emptied every last drop 
of honey out of the uncapped cells, and it was some time 
before they filled and capped them. Of course they may 
sometimes do the opposite of this. Stimulation between 
fruit-bloom and white clover is hardly necessary, here. 

Any overhauling subsequent to the first, is an easy matter. 
As a broodless frame was left at the south side at the first 
overhauling, and the brood-nest commenced with the next 
frame, I can count that the bees will continue this arrange- 
ment, nineteen times out of twenty, if not ninety-nine times 
out of a hundred. In fact this is just the order that the bees 
will almost invariably establish of their own accord, the 
brood-nest commencing in the second frame from the south, 
and the south frame remaining without brood, but sure to 
contain a large quantity of bee- bread. So in any examina- 
tion after the first, I commence at the north side and when I 
come to the first frame of brood, I need go no further, for I 
know that the brood-nest will occupy all the rest of the 
combs except the outside one at the south. If they have not 
plenty of feed, of course it can be given, although it may not 
often be necessary to give stores the second time, for in this 
locality they can get good supplies from fruit-bloom. 

I suppose they can forage upon 10,000 fruit-trees without 
going more than a quarter of a mile. If, however, the first 
frame of brood I come to, contains only sealed brood, I must 
look further to see whether they have eggs or very young 
brood, for it is possible they may have become queenless. If 
eggs are plentiful, but no unsealed brood, I know that they 
have a young queen which has commenced laying, and I must 
find her and clip her wing. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 29 

If there is nothing but sealed brood, and no eggs, I am not 
sure whether they have a queen or not, and it is not safe to 
give them one till I do know, so I give them, from another 
colony, a comb containing eggs and young brood. I make a 
record of giving them this young brood thus : " May 20, no 
eg g y br," and in perhaps a week I look to 'see in what 
condition they are. If I find queen-cells started I am pretty 
sure they have no queen, and I may let them go on and rear 
a queen, unless I have one I wish to give them . If it happened 
that they had a virgin queen when the young brood was given 
them, the presence of this brood is supposed to stimulate the 
queen to lay the sooner, and I may find eggs on this later 
insp^ection. It may be, however, that I shall find neither 
eggs nor qaeen-cell, in which case I consider it probable that 
they have a queen which has not yet commenced to lay, and 
they are left for examination perhaps a week later. 

This is a good time to salt the ground at and about the 
entrances of the hives, to kill the grass, although too often I 
leave it till it has to be cut with a sickle. Grass growing in 
front of the hive annoys the bees, and that growing at the 
side annoys the operator, especially if the operator is of the 
female persuasion, and the grass is wet with dew or rain. 

In one case I spoke of leaving a hive to be examined a week 
later. It is not possible to remember always what is to be 
done, if as many as 50 colonies are kept; so, in the back of 
my record-book, I keep a memorandum of work to be done, 
using arbitrary characters to indicate the particular work 
required. A bit of the memorandum may be this : 

Junel3, Mon. 4, 93, 17, 84, 79, 

y d ^ f 

Junel4,Tues. 172, 184, 139, 148, 

- A N ^ 

In plain English this means that on Monday, Juna 13, lam 
to look at Ko. 4, to see if there are any eggs there ; give a 
frame containing young brood to No. 93 ; clip the wing of 
the queen of 17, which I probably failed to find on a previous 



30 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

day ; put a super on No. 84 ; look at the record to see what is 
to be done at No. 79 ; on Tuesday 14, destroy the queen-cells 
in No. 172 ; give a queen to No. 184 ; give a queen-cell to No. 
139 ; free the queen which for some reason has been caged in 
No. 148. 

I always keep a lead-pencil tied with a long string to the 
record-book. No ink must be used in it, for you know it will 
get a little wet sometimes. 

THE HONEY HAKVEST. 

There are certain things always noticed by a bee-keeper, 
with much interest, as heralding the beginning of spring or 
of the honey-harvest. Among these are the singing of frogs, 
theadventof bluebirds, and the opening of various blossoms. 
With me the highest interest centers in white clover. As I 
go back and forth to the Wilson apiary, I am always watching 
the patches of white clover along the roadside ; if your 
attention has never been called to it, you will be surprised to 
find how long it is from the time the tirst blossom may be 
seen, till clover opens out so bees will work upon it. I 
usually see a stray blossom days before it seems to have any 
company. In my location I do not count upon anything 
usually besides white clover for surplus, so no wonder I am 
interested in it. Basswood trees are scarce, and I don't know 
that I ever took any honey in vv^hich the basswood flavor 
could be detected, excepting one year. Raspberries and 
other sources exist, to be sure, but not in sufficient quantity. 
If I kept only a few colonies, I might secure surplus from 
various sources. One or two years I had sections filled with 
what I believed to be cucumber honey, a pickle factory being 
in the neighborhood. 

Quite likely if a second crop of apple-bloom came a month 
or two later than the usual time, I might get some surplus 
from that ; but coming so early I think there are hardly bees 
enough to store it. Still, the bees are at this time using large 
quantities of honey for brood, and so the apple-bloom is of 
very great value. Another advantage is that the great 



A YEAR AMOKG THE BEES. 31 

quantity of bloom has somewhat the effect of proloDgiiig its 
time, for the latest blossoms, that with a few trees would 
amount to little or nothing, are enough to keep the bees bus3^ 
So it happens that I can scarcely recognize any interim 
between fruit'- bloom and clover. A few items from a 
memorandum for 1882 may be interesting : 

Apr. 4.— Last bees taken out of cellar. 

May 8.— Plum-bloom out. Bees still work on meal and 
sugar syrup. 

May 10.— Wild plum, dandelion, cherry, pear, Siberian, 
Duchess of Oldenberg. 

May 31. — Saw first clover blossom. 

June 5.— Apple about done. 

June 12. — Commenced giving supers. 

June 13.— Clover full bloom— plentiful. 

June 20.— Locust out. 

Aug. 1. — Clover failing. 

Aug. 5.— Robber bees trouble. 

You will notice that the earliest apple-bloom (Duchess of 
Oldenberg) commenced May 10, while the Janets and other 
late bloomers were still in blossom on June 5, several days 
after the first clover was seen, making about four weeks of 
apple-bloom. Possibly this was unusual— certainly the clover 
lasted unusually long, being about 1% weeks from the time 
the bees commenced working on it, for they do not seem to 
commence work till after the blossoms have been out some 
time. You see that I did not commence putting on supers 
till 12 days after I saw the first clover-blossom, and if I had 
had only a dozen colonies, I might have waited later, but 
with a large number I must commence in time so that all 
shall be on as soon as needed. A little time before bees 
commence work in supers, little bits of pure, white wax will 
be seen stuck on the old comb about the upper part, yet I 
hardly wait for this, but go rather by the clover. 

Another year (1884), I saw the first clover-blossom on May 
21, apple being still in the full bloom ; and I commenced 
putting on supers on June 2. One year, I remember, clover 
failed on July 4, the earliest I ever remember. 



32 



A YEAR AMONG .THE BEES. 



WIDETRAMES. 

The first sections I used were the common, 1-pound, 4)^x43^ 
section. I used them in the wide frame, two tiers deep, that 
is, eight sections in a frame. The supers were exactly the 
same as the hive, except that there were no entrances nor 
bottom-boards. One advantage of this was that, at any time, 
I could change a super to a hive by simply chiseling out an 
entrance and nailing a couple of boards on the bottom. Or 
I could use one, at any time, as a hive, without any change, 
by placing it on a stand and letting the front end project 
over, a la Simplicity. These supers measured 153^ inches, 
inside width ; and putting into one of them 7 wide frames 2 




wide Frame, holding- 8 one-pound Sections. 



inches wide, and a dummy %-inch thick, left, theoretically, 
13^-inches space ; as a matter of fact, it was less than 1 inch. 
Each frame had nailed upon it two tin separators S}4 inches 
wide, leaving the open spaces at the top and bottom over the 
comb-surface 34 of an inch. The frames, filled with sections, 
were put into the super, the open side, or side without a 
separator, being put next to the south side, and the dummy 
at the north side, then with the chisel I crowded all close 
together, using no wedges or other means to keep them there. 
This was a large amount of storage-room— 56 sections— to 
put on at first, but I saw no easy way to avoid it. The bees, 
of course, were rather slow to occupy so large a space, and as 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 83 

at this time I used 10 brood-frames, these latter were first 
filled. 

Later I came down to 8 biood-frames and used means to 
bait the bees at once into the sections. In the super I put 
only 6 wide frames, putting in the center a frame of brood, 
bees and all, from the brood-chamber, and closing up the 
remaining 7 brood-frames with a division-board. 

The first two wide frames were put in as usual, and the 
third reversed, so as to present the open side next the brood- 
comb, then came the brood-comb, and the remaining three 
wide frames. Thus, the brood-comb had on each side of it 
eight sections opening toward it, and in most cases the bees 
would begin to draw out the foundation in all 16 of these 
sections, within 48, if not 24 hours. If left just in this shape 
the bees will go on rapidly storing, and begin work on 
adjoining frames, but there is some danger that the queen 
may lay in the sections next the brood-frame. Moreover, as 
soon as a section facing the brood- comb is filled, the bees 
will commence sealing it with dark cappings, caused, I 
suppose, by their taking wax from the brood -comb, so con- 
veniently near. So in about a week these frames of sections 
which are already started, change places with their next 
neighbors, the fresh ones having their open sides next the 
brood-comb. A week later the bees will have the work well 
on, in the four frames, when the brood-comb m.ay be returned 
below, or used otherwise. Then these four frames of sections 
in which the bees are at work are alternated with three 
empty ones, and the bees left to fill the 56 sections. 

If, however, as is usually the case, more room is needed, 
after putting the 7 frames of sections in the super, as just 
mentioned, a second super is placed above. In this a wide 
frame is placed at the north side of the super, then a brood- 
comb, then two or three more wide frames and a dummy, 
the brood-comb serving as a bait, to be moved farther toward 
the south as fast as not needed at the north. It might be 
thought that the bees would not readily find their way around 
outside of the dummy of the first super, up into the second 



34 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

super, but they always did. Even a third super was often 
gone into. One trouble, connected with this, was that the 
brood-comb was bulged into the sections, and it w'as a dauby 
job to trim it down to its proper size. 

Later, I modified the above plan somewhat. After the 
first four frames of sections were started, the brood-comb 
was taken away, and the super filled as follows : At the 
south side was put a frame of started sections and a 
frame of empty sections; at the north side was put a 
frame of empty sections, then a frame of started, then two 
empty, then one started. The south two frames had the 
sides without separators facing south, and the north five 
facing north. The north five were crowded close to the north 
side. This left quite a space between the tw^o parts into 
which was put a dummy, and this was crowded to the south 
side. There are now in the super three frames of started 
sections and four of empty, and one frame of started sections 
is left. This is put into a second super above, between two 
frames of empty sections at the south side, from three to five 
frames altogether being in this upper super. From time to 
time the bees are baited along in this, adding frame if 
necessary until the super is full, then if more room is required 
arrange this super the same as the first one, and add a third 
super. When sufficient time had elapsed the lower super 
was examined for any frames that might be ready to take off. 

Another plan was, instead of putting a frame of brood 
above, to put one or two frames of sections in the brood- 
chamber of the hive, without any super, putting the sections 
outside of the brood-nest, separators toward the brood. 
When the bees started work in these sections, they were put 
as bait in the super which was then given. This plan had 
the important advantage of confining the heat to the brood- 
chamber until the bees fairly commenced storing. 

An objection to the use I made of wide frames was the bits 
of comb and honey between the bottoms of these frames and 
the tops of the brood-frames. This might be remedied by 
using the Heddon skeleton honey-board. Another objection 



A YEAR AMON^G THE BEES. 35 

was the great amount of labor entailed. For one not over 
strong it made a great deal of heavy lifting. Yet I secured 
some good crops of honey by it, never in more satisfactory 
shape, and I am not sure whether I can do any better by any 
other system, if I do not take into account the item of labor. 

Before I leave the subject of wide frames I will tell how I 
took the sections out of the frames. It is, I think, easier to 
take out the whole eight than to take out a single one. I at 
first laid the wide frame down on the table, face downwards, 
slipped a little stick about 3€ of an inch thick under each 
end of the frames, then with a stick pushed down the sections 
all around as far as the table, then by pulling up on the 
frame and holding down the sections with the stick, the 
frame was lifted off, leaving the sections lying on the table. 
But sometimes, when the sections were unusually loose in 
the frame, they came to grief by tumbling out prematurely 
as the frame was being turned over on the table. To remedy 
this, a board was taken, a couple of inches longer than the 
frame, and as wide as the depth of the frame. Kear each 
end of the board was nailed a strip about 3^ of an inch thick, 
the two strips being such a distance apart that when the 
frame was laid flat upon its face these strips would support 
the ends of the frame, leaving the sections free to drop the 
3^ inch. To use it, stand the frame on the table with the 
separators toward you ; then stand the board on the opposite 
side against the frame, and lay the two together down upon 
the table, frame uppermost. If any sections do drop out in 
turning over, they can only drop upon the board. This is a 
very good plan if the number to be taken out is not very 
large. 

But when hundreds of frames are to be emptied, every little 
advantage that will make a difference in speed of perform- 
ance is worth studying for; so I adopted a plan which 
allowed them to be taken out very rapidly. This was 
Charlie's specialty, and he became so expert at it that I think 
it would be diflQcult for any one to take out sections faster, 
no matter what kind of surplus case might be used. At his 



36 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

best he can take out 960 sections per hour. Moreover, I have 
some doubt if there is any surplus-case used from which the 
sections are more easily and rapidly taken than from these 
same wide frames ; but 1 may be very widely mistaken in 
this, for I have not seen all the kinds. I will now see if I 
can describe the arrangement used, which is as follows : 

Take a super, such as hold the wide frames, and saw it 
into two parts, so that one part shall hold two wide frames, 
and have % or % of an inch space left ; in other words, saw 
off 43^ to ^% inches of the inside width of the super, ^tfail a 
bottom on it. Turn the open side of this box toward you, 
and hang a wide frame in it, on the side toward you, as close 
to the outside as you can without actually having any part of 
the wide frame outside the box, Kow nail stops in the 
rabbets tight against the ends of the top-bars, and also nail 
stops against the lower ends of the side or end pieces of the 
frame. These stops are to hold the frame securely in its 
place, when you push against it to push the sections out. 
It is also better to nail in little wedge-shaped pieces, to 
prevent the play of the lower part of the frame endwise. 
]^ail upon the bottom a piece the whole length, about two 
inches wide, and of such thickness that when the sections 
are pushed out of the frame, they will have but a very little 
distance to drop upon this piece. Cushion the back for the 
sections to strike against. 

Now for a push-stick : Take a stick of hard wood (pine 
wears out too soon) about 9 inches long and % of an inch 
square. At one end cut a shoulder, clear around, ^ of an 
inch deep, leaving the end of the stick }i of an inch square 
and about 3^ of an inch long before reaching the shoulder ; 
whittle away the other end of the stick somewhat tapering, 
so that about 2 inches of the end shall be not more than 34 of 
an inch thick. Place the box upon the table or bench where 
you are to operate, having the top tip back 2 or 3 inches more 
than the bottom, by means of boards nailed under the front 
edge. It should be very solid. A good plan is to have the 
table or bench stand against the wall, then the box can rest 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 37 

solid against the wall, having ahother box at the back of it, if 
necessary, to bring it further from the wall ; then fasten to 
the table with nails, screws or clamps. 

Kow hang j^our frame of sections in the box, separators 
toward you. If the sections are glued tight in the frame, 
run a knife between the top-bar and the sections, also 
between the bottom-bar and the sections ; but this is often 
unnecessary. With the shouldered end of the push-stick, 
start the sections at each of the four corners of the frame, 
and sometimes it may be necessary to start them at the 
middle of the end pieces. You will now find the advantage 
of the shoulder on the push-stick, for you cannot go more 
than 3^ of an inch before the shoulder will strike the frame, 
and sometimes it takes so much force to start the sections, 
that when the attachment gives away, the sections would be 
broken if there were no shoulder. Now with the other end 
of the stick push against the different parts of the sections 
that lag the most, till they are out of the frame. 

In some respects it would be an improvement to have open 
instead of closed tops, to the wide frames ; but I never tried 
them. I tried some wide frames, holding one tier of sections, 
and having open tops ; that is, top-bars like the bottom-bars, 
% of an inch less than the ends of the frames. I liked these 
better. 

HEDDON SUPERS. 

After seeing the first super or surplus-case which Mr. 
James Heddon invented, I resolved to try it. I gave it a 
pretty thorough trial, putting, I believe, two hundred into 
use. One advantage I expected from them, was the dispens- 
ing with separators. I had seen nice sections of honey 
secured by Mr. Heddon with no separators ; and others, also, 
had been successful. I was unsuccessful. I do not know, 
positively, why. It may have been the different manage- 
ment. Mr. Heddon allowed, if he did not encourage, natural 
swarming. I did all I could to discourage it. I think, 
compared with mine, that his bees were crowded for surplus 



38 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

room . I think this has a tendency to produce straight combs . 
At any rate, I failed to produce such sections of honey as 
would pack satisfactorily for shipping. I found more 
difficulty than I had anticipated in taking the sections out of 
the supers. When first taken from the hive, the sections 
could be taken out as directed by Mr. Heddon, using a block 
or follower specially made for the purpose. But after they 
had remained in the store-room for some time, especially in 
cool weather, I broke too many sections in taking out, as a 
result of the necessary fall of some 4 inches. 

Moreover, it would sometimes happen, that, on inverting 
the super, the sections would drop out of their own accord. 
So, before inverting, I laid a board upon the super, then 
inverted the two together, having it so arranged that the 
sections, when pushed by the block or follower, could not 
fall more than an inch or so. When all four of the rows of 
sections had been started to the extent of the inch or so, I 
placed upon them a quadruple follower made by nailing a 
board across four single followers. The sections, having 
been already started, would come oat without much force ; 
so, placing my chin upon the top of the quadruple follower, 
I pulled the super up off the sections, and then lifted away 
super and follower together, leaving the sections all clear. 
It was not a very graceful performance, but it was safe and 
effective. 

T-SUPERS. 

At the Korth American Bee-Keepers' Convention at 
Toronto, in 1883, Mr. D. A. Jones, with his usual hearty 
manner, was making his Yankee cousins feel at home ; and 
showed me a super which he recommended for comb honey. 
I am not sure but he had said something about it, the 
previous year, at Cincinnati ; but I was not specially inter- 
ested, and paid little attention to it. Now, however, I 
thought I could see advantages in it, and upon thorough 
trial I have adopted it exclusively. 

I feel just a little hesitancy in saying much in praise of this 
super. I like it better than anything I have tried, but it 



A YEAR AMON^G THE BEES. 39 

seems to have found favor with very few others. So little 
has been said about it, that I do not even know the name of 
of it. Neither do I know who first invented it. I think that 
Mr. C. H. Dibbern, of Milan, Ills., invented substantially the 
same thing afterward, having probably never heard of it 
before. In the American Bee Journal for 1884, page 133, he 
describes his invention. If any beginner should happen to 
read this, and should think of adopting this style of super, I 
would say, '' Go slow." Although I have tried them and like 
them, I am not sure that I know another one, except Mr. 
Dibbern, who has said anything, publicly, in favor of them. 
For want of a better name they may be called the "T- 
supers." Mine are made for 43^x43^ sections, although they 
could very easily be made to take 43^x5^^, or 43^x8%, or 
43^x2 13-16. Although mine w^ere first made before seeing 
Mr. Dibbern's description, they are rather more like his than 
those shown me by Mr. Jones. Quite a number of mine are 
made from Heddon supers changed over ; but I will describe 
those which have been made new. 

HOW TO MAKE T-SUPEES. 

First make a plain pine rim or box without top or bottom, 
measuring inside 17%xl23^x4%. The lumber is dressed on 
all sides, and % of an inch in thickness. Each piece is halved 
at each corner. This is not absolutely necessary, although it 
makes a very nice, close, and stiff joint. The outside meas- 
ure is 19%xl3%x4f^ inches, so the sides are 193^ inches long ; 
but halving at the corners makes the end-pieces 13 inches 
long, instead of 123^, as they would be if not halved at the 
corners. At the middle of each end slotted hand-holes are 
sawed or cut in. I much prefer these handles or hand-holes 
at the ends, although others prefer them at the sides. I get 
the stuff in the flat, ready to be nailed together. 

To nail them together, I have an arrangement that holds 
the two end-pieces up, at just the right distance apart to nail 
the side-piece upon them. In a job of two days' work, it 
may pay to spend the first day in getting ready, or making 



40 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

devices to expedite the work. Tlie side-piece is nailed upon 
the end-piece by driving at each end two 6-penny nails about 
^-inch from each edge. After the sides are nailed on, the 
super is set on end, and at each end of each end-piece three 
4 -penny nails are driven, one in the middle, and one a half- 
inch from each edge. These nails are driven slanting to get 
a stronger hold, and to prevent splitting the ends of the side- 
pieces. Common 6-penny and 4-penny nails are used, being 
stiffer than wire nails, which I use for most purposes. 

I now go to the tinner and have him cut me six pieces of 
Russia sheet-iron for each super; each piece 1^x1 inch. 
These pieces are to be nailed upon the under edges of the 
sides of the super, so that the centre of the middle piece 
shall be at the centre of the side, and the centre of the other 
two pieces half-way between the centre of the super and the 
inside end. These points are easily obtained in this way : 
Take a strip of paper just the inside length of the super, fold 
it double, lengthwise, then double again, and the places of 
the three folds are the proper places for the middle of each 
piece of sheet-iron. Each piece is to project inward 5-16 of 
an inch, and is fastened by two ^-inch wire nails driven 
about 34-inch from the inside edge of the wood. A common 
shoe-maker's pegging awl makes the holes for the nails. 
This awl I could not well dispense with. The long way of 
the sheet-iron piece lies across the grain of the wood. If 
many are to be made, it pays to make a tool for quickly 
setting the sheet-iron pieces at the right places. J. will tell 
you how I made mine, which is as follows : 

Take a piece of pine 17 5-16x^x34 inch, the measurements, 
except length, being not material. Then make two pieces, 
each 5x^x}i ; and two more, each ^}ix%x}i On the 17 5-16 
piece, measure off 3 13-16 inches from one end, and placing 
one end of one of the o-inch pieces at this point, letting the 
other end project over the end of the long piece, nail it there 
with a couple of ^-inch wire nails, clinching them. Then 
leaving a space of 1 1-16 inches, nail on one of the 334-inch 
pieces. In the same way nail the remaining pieces on the 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 41 

other end of the long piece. This tool, when placed in the 
super close to the side, gives just the right place to nail each 
sheet-iron piece without the possibility of a mistake. To 
make sure of the sheet-iron pieces projecting 5-16 of an inch, 
drive a couple of ^-inch wire nails partly in, at just 5-16 of 
an inch from the edge in the spaces where the sheet- 
iron will rest. For each super two pieces of tin must be cut 
133^x%. The cheapest kind of tin will answer for this. One 
of these pieces is to be nailed on the lower edge of each end 
of the super, so as to project inward 3^ inch. 

To set the piece of tin quickly and surely at the right place, 
I make the following tool : Make one piece of pine 13x1x3^, 
and another 12x13^x3^. The only material point in the 
measurement is that the short piece must be 3^-inch wider 
than the long one. I^ail the long piece symmetrically upon 
the short one, so that the long one shall project 3^-inch at 
each end over the short one, and each side of the short one 
shall project 3^ -inch from under the long one. Placing this 
tool in the super, close against the end, the strip of tin may 
be put surely in place. Now, with nine ^-inch wire nails, 
nail it on, putting one nail at each of the four corners of the 
tin, and distributing the other five nails equally, which leaves 
them something over 2 inches apart. They should be driven 
rather more than % of an inch from the free edge of the tin. 
Again the tinner must be called upon. For each super, 
have six pieces of tin cut 12x1 inch. Bend each piece at right 
angles, or trough-shaped, it's entire length. Two of these 
pieces put side by side make the shape of the letter 
T, and are soldered together at the top of the letter T. 
The pieces of tin being bent in the middle make a support 
of a half inch for sections, and the upright part being also 
half an inch gives great stiffness and strength to the support. 
I thought I would improve the matter and have them 
still stiffer and stronger, so I made the upright part % 
instead of half an inch. I regretted it afterward, for it 
made too large a space below the separators. A tool to 
hold the pieces while soldering is made of two pieces of ash 



42 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

wood, each 12x2x^ fastened together at one end by a common 
2-inch hinge. When the pieces of tin are put in this, a 
spring clamp is slipped over the end without the hinge. 
These T tins, or supporters, must be made of good tin. Mine 
are made of IX tin. I think it might be an improvement if 
they were made of one instead of two pieces, but my tinner 
tells me this cannot be done with ordinary machinery. Now 
that the T super is complete, nothing remains but to place 
the T tins inside the super, on the sheet-iron rests, and fill 
up with sections. 

SECTIONS FOR HONEY. 

All the sections I ever used were 43^x43^, dovetailed, so I 
have had no experience with any other. As to thickness or 
width, I have used mostly what are called pound or 2-inch 
sections ; although they are in reality 1 15-16. I have also 
used by the thousand those measuring 7 to the foot or 1 5-7 
inches, as well as 8 to the foot, or 1% inches. I tried a couple 
of hundred 9 to the foot, and 10 to the foot. I think it not likely 
that I shall ever meddle again with anything less than 1^ 
inches wide. One advantage of the T-super, as well as the 
Heddon super, is that different sections as to width can be 
used in the same super without change, so that it costs but 
little to make the experiment. If I used no separators I 
certainly think I should use the 13^-inch sections. With 
separators I hardly know whether to prefer 6 or 7 to the foot. 

As already intimated, I cannot dispense with separators ; 
yet I have used a mixed arrangement with some degree of 
satisfaction. The plan is to use both 6's and 8's in the same 
row. (By 6's and 8's, I mean those that measure 6 and 8 to 
the foot — in other words, 1 15-16 and 13^ inches wide.) First, 
two 6's, then four 8's, then one six. Separators are placed 
between the two 6's, also between the 6's and the 8's. No 
separators are put between the 8's, and not being at the out- 
side they are generally built in pretty good shape, for it is 
the outside ones that make the most trouble without separa- 
tors. Even with separators I have had 6's at the outside 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 43 

built SO much one-sided that the lower edge of the foundation 
has been pushed over and fastened to the separator. 



OKE, TWO, AND EOUR-PIECE SECTIONS. 

The first sections I ever used were four-piece. At that 
time there were no others. I never used any except the 
dovetailed. After the one-piece sections were introduced I 
tried 500, but did not like them. Later, I tried some two- 
piece, which I like better than the one-piece. The last lot I 
got were one-piece, chosen from principle rather than prefer- 
ence. Very few used the four-piece; and so far as I can 
consistently, I like to encourage uniformity in the matter of 
supplies. If all bee-keepers used the same description of 
articles, I think it would result in advantage to manufac- 
turers and consumers. I could be more sure of obtaining 
promptly an article most common in use. Besides, I thought 
I could more easily obtain nice, white sections in one-piece. 
I think the majority of those who buy honey, like the looks 
of the one-piece best. The one-piece are objectionable on 
account of the ''naughty corner" — a fatal objection when 
used without separators ; they are sometimes out of square, 
and I never knew one of this sort to stay square with any 
amount of coaxing ; there is also constant danger of breaking. 
A great point in favor of the one-piece is the ease with which 
they can be put together. I think Charlie's best speed at 
making the four-piece was seven in a minute, and with the 
same ease he puts together twenty of the one-piece in the 
same time. 

SHOP FOR BEE-WORK. 

The work of putting together supers, sections and all that 
sort of thing, is usually done in the winter, or early spring. 
My shop is 18x24 feet, two-story, with a bee-cellar under it. 
The upper story is used for storing empty supers, hives and 
other articles not very heavy, or such as are not often needed. 
The outside door opens into the middle of the east side of the 



44 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

house into a store-room ; immediately in front of you as you 
enter are the stairs leading to the upper story, and at your 
right a door opens into the work-room. In this work-room 
is a coal-stove, and the room, being ceiled up, is comfortable 
in the severest weather. 

PUTTING SECTIONS TOGETHER. 

The empty supers are brought into the work-room, and, as 
fast as filled, stacked up in the store-room, ready to be put 
on the hives. In this work, the first thing is to put the 
sections together. As fast as Charlie makes them, he stacks 
them up on thin boards, generally using dummies for this 
purpose. A dummy being about 18x9, holds 60 sections, if 
piled four deep. He breaks very few one-piece sections since 
he has had practice, and claims the manner of putting them 
together has much to do with it. He grasps the sections in 
such a way that the right hand bends a joint at one end, the 
left hand at the other, and the middle is bent by both ; all 
three joints being bent simultaneously, and no one at any 
time bent faster than another. The secret of it lies in having 
the fingers of each hand on both sides of the joint it is bend- 
ing at the same time. If the section is caught by each hand 
at the extreme ends, and those euds brought togetheir, one 
joint may be bent entirely before another starts. This not 
only makes an extra strain on the one already bent, but each 
one must be bent with a quicker movement if bent success- 
ively than if bent simultaneously. I think he can make 
more rapid work by his plan. 

PUTTING STARTERS IN SECTIONS. 

As fast as a boardful is made, they are stacked up on his 
bench and, as needed, lifted over on Emma's table. This is 
provided with a Clark foundation -fastener. If rightly used, 
I think the Clark fastener will put in foundation more 
securely, more rapidly, and with much less expenditure of 
labor than the Parker. The Gray is said to be an improve- 
ment on the Clark, but I have not tried it. 



A YKAR AMONG THE BEES. 45 

To use the Clark fastener successfully, the foundation 
must be warm ; the edge to be fastened quite warm and soft. 
Common flat-irons were at first used, but they cool too rapidly 
Common bricks are good, but they break with the heat very 
soon. So I use two fire-bricks, one to be heating while the 
other is in use. One of these was broken, but I tied it up 
with wire, and it is just as good as ever. Having a brick 
heated, take it out of the fire with a pair of claw-tongs, and 
put in the other brick. Place the hot brick at a convenient 
distance in front of you, as you sit before the fastener, and 
lay the pile of starters between you and the brick. The edges 
of the foundation next to the brick must be laid even, and 
when the brick is first taken from the fire see that the pile of 
starters is not laid close enough to it to melt. If the founda- 
tion seems to be getting too soft (although it can hardly be 
too soft if it does not melt), move it back a little. As the 
brick gradually cools off, move the foundation closer to it. 
Erom 25 to 40 starters should be in the pile at first ; enough 
to reach to the top of the brick, and when only 5 or 10 are 
left, a fresh pile should be put under, as it takes some time 
for them to warm up. 

Putting the section in place, lay the foundation so that the 
presser will press a very small edge ; in fact, I think the less 
bite you take the better. With a quick motion of the feet, 
let the presser strike the foundation, letting the feet fly hack 
instantly. As you lift the section and turn it upright, the 
weight of . a starter of good size will of itself bring the 
foundation to a vertical position, although I notice that 
Emma helps the starter to its place in the act of taking up, 
by deftly touching with the fingers of both hands, as she 
turns over the section. By no means follow the instructions 
usually given, to "draw one side of the section forward a 
little," " as the presser sinks the foundation into the wood." 
I think I would rather use the Parker fastener if obliged to 
follow such instructions. It would make the work slower 
and more laborious. 



46 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

Working as I have above directed, Emma puts in 7 starters 
per minute, at her ordinary rate of working ; by hurrying, 
she has put in 10 per minute. 

Since using this machine, the dropping out of starters is 
of very rare occurrence. Occasionally one has dropped out 
because the starter v^as pressed so hard that it was actually 
cut off, but I think it was because the edge of the presser 
was a little too sharp. Even then it would only occur when 
the wax was very soft and pressed very hard. 

CUTTING rOUKDATIOISr STAETERS. 

I have received foundation in different sized sheets ; some 
of it cut into the proper size for starters, some of it large 
enough for five, and some as high as ten full-sized starters. 
I do not like it cut to the smallest size, for I like at least one 
edge of a starter cut quite true and straight, and to have it 
so I must cut it myself. After practicing different ways, I 
have settled upon the one that suits me best. Take a board 
about 18 inches long and 12 inches wide. On one end nail 
two or three pieces of section, so that the foundation, when 
placed upon the board, may not project over the end. At 
each side drive 13^-inch wire nails partly in, at the proper 
distances to cut the desired size. A pocket-knife (I use a 
Barlow), a stick with a straight edge like a ruler, two or more 
flat-irons, and your paraphernalia is complete. 

The room must be very warm, and the foundation must be 
warm enough so there is no sort of danger of breaking it. 
Generally the foundation comes in strips of the right width, 
and needs only to be cut into lengths. Take five of the 
strips and arrange in an even pile ; lay the pile on the board, 
pushing it against the section pieces at the end, and lay 
another pile beside it. Place the ruler across the piles, 
against the nails. The hot flat-iron should be before you, 
supported in some way so the flat side shall be uppermost. 
Lay the blade of your knife flat upon the flat-iron till it gets 
hot, hold the ruler firmly to its place and cut across. A 
little practice will enable you to hold the blade flat against 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 47 

the ruler, without running away from it or cutting into it. 
When all on the board is cut, the pieces are gathered in piles, 
40 to 80 in a pile, the edges all made even at one side. These 
piles are put on division-boards or dummies till used. The 
foundation raises the ruler so high from the board that the 
nails are hardly stiff enough. To obviate this, I nail on each 
side a strip %-inch thick, and drive the nails in this. 

SIZE OF STAETEES. 

I believe in having as little space as possible left unfilled 
by the starter in the section. I have tried starters of such 
length as to reach from top to bottom, but they sagged and 
bulged. I have seen sections that had been completely filled 
with foundation, the foundation having been first drawn out 
in the brood-chamber ; but these sections, when tilled, had 
an unfinished look about the margin. I settled upon a 
margin of 3^-inch as the smallest practicable, although it 
takes almost too careful work to put in such large starters. 
So, in a 43^x43^ section a starter about S% inches square is, 
perhaps, the largest admissible. 

Years ago my sections were always filled so full by the 
bees that they carried very securely in transportation. After- 
ward I began to have trouble from combs breaking down. 
It was due, perhaps, mainly to the bees having too much 
surplus room. Some sections would be filled with a nice 
comb of honey, not very strongly attached at the top, very 
little at the side, and not at all at the bottom. Aside from 
depending upon crowding the bees to make them fill the 
sections, I wanted a plan whereby I could be sure of having 
the sections securely fastened at the bottom as well as at the 
top. I tried taking partly-filled sections out of the supers 
and reversing them, and even went so far as to invent a 
reversible super. I abandoned this, however, and adopted 
the plan of putting a starter in the bottom as well as the top 
of the section. The problem I had to solve was, how large a 
starter I could put in at the bottom and not have it topple 
over when warmed up and occupied by the bees. By put- 



48 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

ting it where the thermometer showed a temperature of lOCP 
and upward, I felt safe in trying a bottom starter of at least 
^-inch. I mean that the starter measured ^-inch before 
fastened in the section. I put in some thousands of this size 
and I am, so far, pleased with them. I have, however, tried 
them only one season, and that a very poor one, so that most 
of them remain unfilled. 

The upper starter was of such size that a space of not more 
than 34-inch was left between the upper and lower starters. 
I tried some 3^-inch or less, but in some cases, at least, the 
bees seemed to think such a little starter had no business 
there, and tore it down. A few supers had bottom starters 
measuring 1 inch ; I hadn't faith enough to try many of so 
large size. These, however, worked perfectly well and I 
shall hereafter use nothing less, and will experiment further 
perhaps, to see how much larger can be used. I do not know 
however, that there would be any gain in having the bottom 
starter larger. 

As fast as the sections are filled with starters they are 
piled up on boards, as before, and afterward filled into 
supers. The separators are put in at the same time, and the 
supers piled up in the store-room till needed to put on the 
hives. 

There is a feeling of real satisfaction in seeing the larger 
part of the store-room filled with piles of supers ready to go 
on the hives. How many times I have counted them and 
admired the nice even piles reaching to the ceiling ! Per- 
haps I should not appreciate them so much if I had not, years 
ago, felt the annoyance of running out of sections or founda- 
tion right in the middle of the honey season, waiting days 
for it, and the honey wasting. ]S"ow, however, I am favored 
in being so near to that reliable firm, Thos. G. Newman & 
Son, that I can get any thing in the line of supplies in half a 
day. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 49 



TIN YEESUS WOOD SEPARATOKS. . 

I have used both tin and wood separators in these T-supers 
as also on the wide frames. I used to wonder why some 
insisted so strongly on the superiority of tin for separators, 
while others as strongly preferred the wood. Perhaps the 
difference may be accounted for by inquiring where they are 
used. From my experience I think I should never want 
wood separators on wide frames : and I prefer wood for loose 
separators, as in the T-supers. 

PUTTING OK SUPEES. 

Up to the time of putting on supers, the desire has been 
to have the bees occupy as many combs as possible. I have 
had as many as nine frames occupied with brood, without 
my spreading the brood, or doing anything to urge the bees 
or queen, further than to see that they had abundant stores. 
When it comes time to put on supers they are reduced to 4 or 
6 frames. The combs that are taken away are sometimes 
used in making new colonies, and sometimes, if they are not 
needed elsewhere, they are put in supers, tiered up over 
other colonies. A colony can thus take care of 40 frames 
without difficulty. To a very limited extent, I have used 
them for extracting combs, and I think I might find profit in 
using more of them in this way. 

In shaking the bees off the comb at the time of contract- 
ing the brood-chamber, or indeed, when, for any purpose, 
bees are to be shaken or brushed from brood- combs back 
into the hive, I have been much annoyed by the behavior of 
the bees. They seem sometimes to take special delight in 
running up the sides of the hive and overflowing the top in 
large numbers, so that great care must be taken in closing 
up the hive or putting on the supers, or many bees will be 
killed. This may be avoided by takiug out the frames, bees 
and all, and putting them in an empty hive temporarily, then 



50 A YEAR AIHONG THE BEES. 

closing up the hive and Shaking off the bees in front, letting 
them run in at their leisure. But in this case it is unpleas- 
ant to have the bees crawling all over the ground in danger 
of being stepped on, and in danger of climbing up one's feet; 
there is also some danger of the youngest bees, and some- 
times also the queen, not finding their way back into the 
hive. 

To remedy this difficulty, I take an old hive and knock 
out the front end ; then this hive can be placed directly in 
front of the hive from which the bees were taken, tlie alight- 
ing-board of the empty hive resting its full width on the 
alighting-board of the full hive, and the bees can be shaken 
into the empty hive from which they can crawl into the full 
one. To avoid the jog where one alighting-board rests on 
the other, I nail a couple of pieces of lath on the inside of the 
empty hive, letting them project in front about an inch. 
These projecting ends can rest on the alighting-board of the 
full hive, and thus the bees have now a level surface on 
which to walk right into their hive. To close up the open 
spaces at the sides between the two hives, a curtain of cotton 
cloth is attached to the front end of each side of the empty 
hive, and a single tack, loosely pushed into the full hive, 
holds the curtain stretched across. The 4 or 5 frames left, 
are generally put at the south side, a dummy next to them, 
then a division-board. A super is wider than the space thus 
occupied ; so I put in lath to fill out to the proper width, the 
lath being cut the length of a top- bar. Before putting on the 
super, I put on a Heddon skeleton honey-board, which is the 
same size as the super ; the south edge of the honey-board 
coming flush with the south wall of the hive, and the north 
edge having an extra top-bar or lath under it. 

Adam Grimm once said to me, when I was on a visit to 
him, that he considered it quite important to have a space 
for ventilation at the back end of the top of the hive, when 
surplus receptacles were on. I have used them so ever since, 
so, when the honey-board is put on, a space is left, at the 
back end, of 34 to % of an inch. The object of this space is 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 51 

to prevent too great heat in the brood-chamber. There is, 
however, a rather serious objection to this open space : the 
bees do not work well in the back row of sections, being, I 
suppose,too cool. I improved upon this,somewhat,by making 
the honey-boards so that they are closed for about 3 inches of 
their length at the back end, and if I favored natural swarm- 
ing, I am not sure but I would dispense with this top venti- 
lation. 

It may have occurred to you that the vacant space under 
,the honey-board would be occupied by the bees, and that 
they would fill it up with comb. It seems as if they would, 
but they do not; at least not one in a hundred. Perhaps one 
reason is that they have plenty of room above ; and another, 
that this vacancy is too open to be warm enough. The hive, 
being wider than the super, there is an open space, at the 
side, of 23^ inches. 

staeti:n'g bees m sections. 

The honey-board being on, the super fits exactly upon it. 
In order to have the bees commence the sooner in the sec- 
tions, I put a bait in the super. I take out one of the middle 
sections, and put in its place a section containing some 
honey. Sometimes I get this bait by taking from a hive a 
super that has honey already stored in some or all of its 
sections, putting in bees and all. There are, however, 
usually, some sections left over from the previous year, that 
are partly fiUed. These make excellent bait. If they are 
partly sealed, as they usually are, I uncap them, so that the 
bees may cap them afresh. Almost surely, the bees will at 
once empty these sections ; and just as surely^ they will 
immediately commence to fill them up again. The super is 
covered over with the quilt or cloth and the hive-cover put 
over this, i^either of these two are satisfactory. The hive- 
cover is too large for the super, and the quilt lies down in 
just the best possible shape to induce the bees to plaster a 
quantity of propolis all over the sections. I suspect it would 



52 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

be quite an improvement to cover the super with an old- 
fashioned, cleated, wooden honey-board. 



QUILTS OR SHEETS. 

I think that Robert Bickford did bee-keepers a great favor 
by giving them the flexible quilt or sheet, in place of the 
rigid board, but I have yet to find a sheet or quilt that is 
entirely satisfactory. I first used them of cotton cloth or 
sheeting, and when enameled cloth was introduced I felt 
that the the thing was settled. So it was, but not for a long 
time. As soon as these enameled sheets became a little old, 
they would crack and tear, and if, by any means, the bees 
got to the cloth or cotton side, they made short work of 
cleaning off the cotton, leaving only the paint. They would 
find some little place about the edge where they could get to 
the wrong side, and sometimes, by some means, would find 
or make holes through the central part. 

After many of these enameled sheets were so far gone as 
to be useless, some of my first quilts of sheeting were still 
fairly good. They had been filled with paper ; and although 
holes had been gnawed by the bees through the cloth and 
into the paper, yet in many cases, where they had not 
gnawed entirely through the paper, the bees covered bee- 
glue over the gnawed part ; and whenever a cloth was well 
covered with bee-glue, it was sure to last well. I tried the 
experiment of melting up a lot of bee-glue and painting it on 
sheeting, but did not succeed. If the sheeting quilts were 
put on at the time when bees were bringing in propolis most 
abundantly, and then as soon as the bees had covered all 
parts, to which they had access, with propolis, the quilts 
should be shifted so that all parts should be propolized, I 
suspect such quilts would be quite durable. Indeed, I have 
practiced somewhat successfully in this direction. In this 
locality propolis is not abundant till after the harvest has 
well commenced ; so new sheets can, at this time, hardly be 
put profitably on any but new colonies. 



A YEAH AMONG THE BEES. 53 

My quilts are now made nearly the same as the first I tried. 
Indian Head, or other hard twisted sheeting, is made into a 
bag open at one end. Into this is put six or eight thicknesses 
of newspaper, so cut or folded as not to come within an inch 
of the outside margin of the bag. If the paper is large 
enough to fill the bag, the shrinkage of the cloth will curl up 
the paper so it will not lie flat. The sheet is then stitched 
across through the centre, so as to hold the paper in its place. 
The sheet must be large enough to allow for shrinkage ; I 
should think it should be at least an inch too large each way. 
Possibly the cloth might be shrunk before making, but I am 
afraid the bees would gnaw this more. 

SHIFTESTG SUPEES. 

After a super has been on long enough for the bees to get 
well started, the most advanced sections being, perhaps, half 
filled, I turn it end for end. This for two reasons : The 
ventilation space at the back end has made slower work 
there ; and there is slower work in the north side of the super 
under which there are no brood-combs. I have thought of 
trying to remedy this by putting part of the brood-combs at 
each side, and filling between with dummies. A few square 
inches of comb would have to be in the upper part of each 
dummy, so that the queen would go from one side to the 
other. I should like brood under the whole super. Heddon's 
shallow hive will work nicely, if one has no objection to it 
otherwise. 

TIEEING UP SECTIONS. 

When the first super is perhaps half filled, I put an empty 
super under it. When the second is well advanced, a third is 
added, and more if necessary. This is, however, a matter of 
judgment, and cannot be made to conform to strict rules. 
If the bees of a strong colony crowd the first super and seem 
to be making rapid work, and there is every reason to expect 
that they can easily fill a second super, the second is given, 
although the first may have very little honey in it. On the 



54 A Year among the bees. 

other hand, if the colony is weak, no second super is added 
so long as there seems to be no crowding, even if the super 
is nearly filled with honey. 

Toward the latter part of the honey-flow, when there is a 
possibility that it may stop at almost any tfme, I am more 
chary about adding supers. It is better to make sure of 
having those finished which have already been given. If it 
seems best to give any, they are put on top. This gives 
plenty of room if the bees need it, and they are not obliged 
to use it unless they do need it. 

TAKING OFF SECTIONS. 

As fast as supers are filled they are taken off. I do not 
think I could be bothered to take off each section as fast as 
finished, putting in an empty one to take its place. It would ' 
take too much time. Neither do I like to wait till every 
section in a super is entirely finished. Unless the bees are 
crowded very much, there will be some uncapped cells in the 
outside sections which the bees will be very long in sealing. 
If these are waited for, the central sections may lose a little 
of their snowy whiteness— the thing which, perhaps, helps 
most to sell them. 

A super is, then, taken off when all but the outside sections 
are finished. This can be pretty well told by glancing over 
the top of the super, although sometimes the sections may 
be all sealed at the upper part and hardly filled below. A 
look at the under part of the upraised super will decide it. 
The sharp or wedge end of the chisel is thrust under the 
supers to pry apart the attachment of bee-glue. 

Unless care is taken, bees will be killed when a super, 
which has just been taken off, is put back again. Sometimes 
there may be so few bees in the way that the super can be 
put on quickly without danger. Of tener too many bees are 
in the way for this, so I put one end on its place, and with a 
series of rapid up-and-down motions, gradually lower the 
other end to its place. This gives the bees time to get out of 
the way, and there are seldom any crushed by it. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 55 

When the white-clover harvest fails, I take off all supers. 
I have, however, some years, left on some during cucumber 
bloom. Sections finished at this time have an unpleasant 
appearance, as if thinly varnished with bee-glue. 

GETTING BEES OUT OF SECTIONS. 

When taking off supers, they are smoked over the surface, 
a little while before removing. This, together with the light, 
I think, drives down the youngest of the bees— such as would 
not be able to find their way back to their hives if taken 
away. If two or more hiyes are opened at the same time, 
they have the more time to get down out of the super. 
Whilst the honey-flow is abundant, I need take no pains for 
fear of robber bees. After the youngest of the bees have 
gone down out of the super, all I have to do is to set the 
super beside the hive, or in any other convenient place ; and 
in from one to three hours every bee will have left it. 

Sometimes I prefer to get all or nearly all the bees out of 
the super before leaving it. In this case I set the super on 
end on top of the hive, and give it a thorough smoking. 
This drives all to the side opposite the smoker, and I brush 
them off while continuing the smoke. 

Nothing that I have ever used for brushing bees has suited 
me so well as the Davis' improved bee-brush— a 15-cent tool 
made of wire and sea-grass, or some such material. If it gets 
stuck up with honey, so as to be stiff, it is easily washed out 
again. 

When there is any danger of robber bees— and there is 
always danger when honey is not coming in freely— the 
supers are taken directly into the store-room of the shop, 
and stood on end on the floor, with plenty of room between 
them. The bees will at their leisure come out of these 
supers and fly to the light. The room is darkened, all but 
one place. This is a hole, cut in the south wall something 
more than a foot square. On the outside, at each side of 
this hole is nailed a piece of lath some 6 inches longer than 
the height of the hole, so that the pieces of lath run up some 



56 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

6 inches higher than the hole or window. A piece of wire- 
cloth is stretched across the window and nailed on the lath 
at each side, and on the wall at the bottom. This makes the 
wire-cloth run some 6 inches above the window, there being 
a space of %of an inch between the wire-cloth and the wall of 
the building at this upper part. The bees on the inside fly 
to this window, crawl up to the top of the wire-cloth and fly 
back to their hives ; the robbers never try to get in at the top 
of the wire-cloth, but always lower down. 

I have no shop, only at the home apiary, so elsewhere I 
have to use other means to get the bees out of supers. By 
taking time enough each super can be cleaned as fast as 
taken off. Usually, however, I pile them up on an inverted 
wooden hive-cover, throw a robber-cloth over the top, and 
then give them a tremendous smoking from below. Enough 
are taken off each trip to make a load home— I am talking 
now about the final clearing off. This will make 3 or 4 piles 
of 6 or 8 supers each. Wife generally does most of the 
smoking of these piles, going from one to the other, keeping 
them closed up below, except while blowing in the smoke, 
and leaving one corner of the robber-cloth open for the bees 
to escape while she is plying the smoker. This constant 
blowing the smoker uses up fuel very rapidly, and soon it 
will be filled with burning coals giving out much heat and 
but little smoke. 

One day when her smoker was in this condition, she broke 
some small limbs off an apple-tree under which she was 
working, and breaking them into proper lengths, stuffed them 
into her smoker. If I had noticed what she was doing, I 
should have told her it would not burn ; but it did burn, and 
made the densest kind of a smoke tijl burned up. Of course 
under ordinary usage it would go out ; but with a hot fire to 
begin with, and constant blowing, it is just the thing, where 
a strong and continuous smoke is wanted. The fuel I 
generally use was recommended to me by the late Mr. Jesse 
Oatman— rotten apple-wood. The best is where a dead apple- 
tree is allowed to rot where it stands. A pile of trimmings 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 57 

of an orchard makes very convenient and good smoker fuel 
after it has lain a year or two. For the Clark smoker I am 
not sure that I like any thing better than rotten wood. For 
the Bingham, I like sound wood— ash and apple are good- 
sawed into proper length and split into pieces 3^ to % inch or 
more square ; only this would be too coarse for the smaller 
sized smokers. I like the largest size. One who has used 
only the smaller sized smokers can hardly imagine how much 
better he would like one that holds a large quantity. 1 hope 
to try for fuel pine shavings as recommended in Mr. Heddon's 
book, " Success," and think I shall be pleased. 

Instead of having so much trouble getting bees out of 
supers, away from home, I think I shall make some arrange- 
ment that shall be more nearly automatic. I think I shall 
try Mr. A. I. Boot's plan of having a tent with a hole in the 
top, say 4 inches square. He says if robbers go out of this 
hole at the top, they do not know enough to come back in 
the same place. 

When these supers are taken ofE before the close of the 
honey-flow, the unfinished sections are taken out (I will tell 
how hereafter), put into another super, and as soon as the 
super is filled with these unfinished sections, it is put back 
on a hive for the bees to finish. 

HOKE Y AND FUMIGATING ROOJ^Jl. 

After the unfinished sections are taken out, these supers 
containing now only finished sections, are stacked up in the 
honey-room. This honey-room is an addition built on to my 
dwelling-house. It is 20x15 feet, and the floor timbers are 
blocked up with stones, so that the floor will sustain a great 
weight without breaking. Five feet are taken off one end, 
making a room 15x5 feet for a fumigating room— smoke- 
room, we generally call it. On the tw^o opposite sides of this 
smoke-room are nailed common 6-inch fence-boards, leaving 
a space of about V/^ inches between them. This l^-inch 
space gives a chance to put in movable shelves made of 
fence-boards. When sections are to be put on these shelves. 



58 A YEAR AMOiTG THE BEES. 

they are taken in on small boards. I happened to have a 
large number of thin boards about 13 inches long and 4 inches 
wide ; these are mainly used, although larger would be better. 
Two of the fence-board shelves are put up about 13 inches 
from centre to centre. The little boards filled with sections 
are placed with an end at the middle of each shelf -board. 
As fast as needed, shelves are added till the room is full. 
Three or four tons of honey can thus be put on these shelves.. 

FUMIGATES^G SECTIONS. 

Generally, I endeavor to fumigate sections within two 
weeks after taking them off, and then give them a second 
smoking two weeks later. Sometimes I have let them go 
without, and I am not sure that fumigating is necessary, 
provided no sections contain pollen, and no dead bees are in 
or about the sections. I am not sure that I have ever seen 
any mention of it, but I have seen wax-worms in many cases, 
bred in or upon the bodies of dead bees. 

The operation of fumigating is very simple. I fill an old 
iron-kettle one-third or one-half full of ashes. Into this I 
put a smaller iron vessel, into which I put a pound of 
sulphur. I do not like the coarse or roll brimstone, because 
it is so troublesome to keep burning. The sulphur is put in 
a compact pile, and a lighted match laid upon it. The door 
of the smoke-room is then shut, and not opened for 24 hours. 
A small hole, 3 or 4 inches square, in the door, is covered 
with glass, through which I can peep to see if the sulphur is 
burning. I can see no flames, only the smoke arising ; an old 
tin pan being inverted over the kettle, as a safeguard, and 
also to make the burning slower. I never knew the fire to 
go out when once fairly started. 

Sometimes I fumigate a lot of supers containing sections. 
The supers are piled alternately in opposite directions, or 
arranged in some way so that the fumes can freely get to all 
the sections. If they are in the main part of the the honey- 
room, I use not less than two pounds of sulphur. I have 
sometimes gone into the room when it was filled with fumes 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 59 

of sulphur, by filling my lungs and then holding my breath 
till I came out again. It is best, if possible, to avoid this, 
especially for those of weak lungs, or those who are nervous. 
Sometimes I have had only a few supers to fumigate. In 
such case I take a wooden hive-cover, put it upside down on 
the floor, and place a super on it. The super is not large 
enough to cover the whole of the hive-cover, so one end of 
the cover is left open. In this end I set a small dish, usually 
an old oyster-can, containing ashes with sulphur in it. A 
board is used to cover over this open end of the hive-cover, 
and to prevent this board from taking fire, a piece of old tin 
or sheet-iron is placed over the sulphur. Other supers are 
piled upon the first, and the upper one covered tight. I have 
been more apt to use too much sulphur in this way than 
when I smoked a whole roomful. It does no great harm, but 
makes some of the sections look as if covered with a kind of 
green mould. I suppose some might say I should burn the 
sulphur on the top instead of at the bottom of the pile ; as 
the sulphurous acid fumes are heavier than air, hence will 
fall. I can say, in reply, that my plan has worked well in 
practice. Moreover, the law of diffusion of gases mixes the 
fumes with the air, and the fumes rise instead of fall, at 
least at first, on account of being heated. If you think the 
fumes too heavy to rise, just put a lighted brimstone match 
under your nose and try it. 

EOBBEE CLOTH. 

A robber cloth is quickly and easily made. Take a piece 
of sheeting a yard square or less, and this alone will make a 
cover to put over a hive or super that will allow no bee to 
enter. The objection is that it is easily blown off by the 
wind, and tha1>it can not quickly be put on. To remedy this 
take two pieces of lath, each about as long as the hive, and 
lay one upon the other with one edge of the cloth between 
them. The cloth is longer than the lath, allowing 6 inches 
or more of the cloth to project at each end of the lath. Now 
nail the laths together with 13^-inch wire nails, clinching 



60 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

them. Serve the opposite edge the same way, and the robber 
cloth is complete. You can take hold of the lath with one 
hand, lift the cloth from a hive or super, and, with a quick 
throw, instantly cover up again your hive or super perfectly 
bee-tight. The advantage of being able to handle it so 
quickly and with but one hand, is great. During the time 
when robber bees are troublesome, I keep 5 or 6 of them con- 
stantly in use, and would not be without them, if they cost a 
dollar apiece. The cost is not over 10 cents each. 

EOBBEE BEES. 

Of course it is not necessary to say how much care should 
be taken to avoid robbing at the close of the honey harvest, 
but I think many experienced bee-keepers make the mistake 
of taking away anything upon which the robbers may have 
been at work, and leaving nothing in its place. If by care- 
lessness I have left a section of honey on a hive, and find the 
robbers at work upon it, I can hardly do a worse thing than 
to take it away. If I leave it, the bees will stick to it, and 
clean it out, and for some time a number of robbers will stick 
to it after the honey is all gone, but they stick to that one 
spot, and if the empty conib is left there, they keep hunting 
it all over and over, and by and by conclude the honey is all 
used out of it and go about their business. If the section is 
ta-ken away and nothing left in its place, they seem to think 
they have made a mistake as to the place and hunt all around 
for the missing section, until they force their way into the 
nearest hive. 

If a weak colony is attacked, I may sometimes take it away, 
but if I do, I immediately put in its place an empty hive in 
which I put some scraps of comb containing a little honey. 
They will rob this out and that will be the end of it. 

One time I found a colony at the close of the honey har- 
vest, by some means about at the point of starvation. With 
more carelessness than was excusable, I gave them, I think 
in the forenoon, two or three combs filled with sugar syrup. 
Some time after, I happened to look toward that end of the 



A YEAR AMONG THE EEES. 61 

apiary and saw what looked like a swarm. The bees had 
become excited over their new-found stores ; the robber bees 
had joined in and the bees seemed to think forage was so 
plentiful, that it wasn't worth while to be mean about it, 
there was enough for all ; so the robbers were doing a land- 
office business without let or hindrance. I closed the 
entrances of the other hives in the immediate neighborhood, 
so that only two or three bees could pass at a time, and then 
threw a lot of loose, wet hay at the entrance of the besieged 
hive. Eor some time I kept every thing very wet all ar^^md 
the hive by pouring on pails of water, and then left them 
till next day. 

Ko other hives were attacked. I somewhat expected to 
find the queen killed, but she was all right next day, and no 
further trouble occurred, as the colony was a strong one, and 
when in its right mind, capable of taking care of itself. 

I make it a rule to stop operations usually when robbers 
are very bad, but sometimes it seems necessary to fight it 
out. I have often taken advantage of the plan of making 
cross bees or robbers lose themselves, or rather lose the 
object they are after by rapidly changing the base of opera- 
tion. One day at the Wilson apiary I had taken off some 
wide frames of sections and wanted to take them from the 
place where they were piled up, so as to put them on the 
wagon. The robbers were so tierce and persistent that it 
seemed impossible to open a crack without their immediate- 
ly forcing their way in. My wife was provided with a smoker 
in full blast, and a big bunch of goldenrod or other weeds. 
A robber cloth covered the pile. With one hand I lifted the 
cloth and with the other took out a frame of sections, then 
quickly dropped the robber cloth in its place, my wife keep- 
ing a cloud of smoke in the way of any robbers which should 
attempt to enter the pile while the cloth was raised. In- 
stantly the frame was out of the super, the robbers made for 
the frame of sections, I made for the wagon and my wife 
made for me. Running in a zig-zag, circuitous course, my 
wife followed me, puffing and switching at every step, and by 



62 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

the time we got to the wagon the robbers were lost, the frame 
was slipped quickly into the super on the wagon, and the 
robber cloth dropped over it. The Scotch folks at the house 
had a good laugh over the crazy couple chasing one another 
through the orchard, but we beat the bees. Under ordinary 
circumstances it would be better to take an easier plan or 
wait till dark. 

PROTECTION EROM STINGS. 

I have been a bee-keeper for twenty-five years, during the 
last eight of which I have made the production of honey my 
sole business, and yet I have not reached that point where I 
care nothing for protection from stings. When I first com- 
menced keeping bees, a sting on my hand was a serious 
afEair, swelling to the shoulder, and troubling fully as much 
the second day as the first. I^^ow, if I receive a half-dozen 
stings or more, I cannot tell an hour or two later w^here I was 
stung, except as a matter of memory. Yet I think that a 
sting gives me fully as much pain for the first minute or two 
now, as it did twenty-five years ago. Sometimes the pain is 
so severe that it literally makes me groan, especially if no 
one is within hearing. I sometimes wonder at those who 
scout at any sort of protection, and query wliether there may 
not be just a little of a spirit of bravado about it. I think I 
could go through a year without any sort of protection, but I 
do not think I ever shall. A bee inside my clothing makes 
me very nervous, and I. cannot go on in comfort at my work 
with a feeling of uncertainty as to where and when its little 
javelin shall pierce my flesh. If I feel it crawling on me, 
and then cease to feel it because it is on the clothing and not 
on the skin, I am in momentary dread as to where it shall 
turn up next ; and it is a real relief when it stings me, for I 
know then the precise spot where it is, and have no further 
expectations from it. 

So I seldom go among the bees without a veil. I may not 
have it over my face, but it is on the hat, ready to be pulled 
down at any time. The veil is made of inexpensive material, 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 63 

called by milliners, cape-lace or cape-net. It is 21 inches 
wide. A piece is cut off as long as the circumference of the 
brim of a straw hat, and both ends sewed together. Shir a 
rubber cord in one end of this open bag, thoroughly soak or 
wash out the starch, and sew the other end on the edge of the 
hat-brim. Loose ones are made with rubber at both ends. 
The openings at the wrist and neck of my shirt are small, 
the cloth lapping over so as to give a bee little chance for 
entrance. If bees are likely to be on the ground, my pants 
are put inside my boots, or inside my stockings if I wear 
shoes. I get a great many stings on my hands, but the 
inconvenience and discomfort of any sort of gloves would be 
to me worse than the stings. Mrs. Miller works pretty 
constantly at the hives the same as myself, and uses no 
protection for the hands, only for the wrists ; while Emma, 
who has worked less at the hives, likes two pairs of kid 
gloves, loose, and one drawn over the other. I think as she 
handles frames more she will discard gloves. 

I like to get a sting out of my skin as soon as possible, if 
not too busy. A little trick in this direction is, I think, not 
known to all bee-keepers. I am not sure whether I learned 
it by instinct, or from the writings of G. M. Doolittle. If a 
bee stings my hand, I instantly strike the hand with much 
force upon my leg, with a sort of quick, wiping motion. 
This mashes the bee generally, and rubs out the sting at the 
same time. 

If one thinks of the thousands or millions of bees in a 
large apiary, it will be seen that comparatively few bees 
make any attack. Sometimes a single bee will threaten and 
scold me by the hour, perhaps finally stinging me by getting 
into my hair or whiskers, and for ought I know the same bee 
may keep up the same thing for days— I mean the scolding, 
not the stinging. It is sometimes worth while to get rid of 
the annoyance by stepping to one side and knocking it down 
with a stick by a few rapid strokes back and forth in front of 
my face. I often mash it by slapping my hands together. 



64 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

Sometimes the bees have seemed very cross, and a little 
observation has shown these bees to proceed from a ijarticu- 
lar part of the apiary, and really from only one hive. A 
careless observer might have said all the bees in the apiary 
were cross. I have had a few colonies so cross that merely 
walking by the hive was the signal for a general onslaught. 
Truth obliges me to say that I have sometimes been so badly 
stung by one of these, when working at them, that I have 
taken refuge in inglorious flight, glad to get a respite and 
scrape out the stings. Just why there should be one or two 
of these in a year in such marked contrast with others I 
cannot say. The only remedy I had was to kill the queen. 

DEESS EOE THE HOTTEST WEATHER. 

During the principal part of the honey-flow, a prominent 
element of hardship is the endurance of the heat. Some- 
times the heat really has made me sick, so that in spite of a 
press of work, I have been obliged to give up and lie down 
for an hour or more. At such times you may be sure I am 
not very warmly clad. One straw hat and veil, 1 cotton 
shirt, 1 pair cotton overalls, 1 pair cotton socks and 1 pair 
shoes, comprise my entire wearing apparel. Before noon, 
shirt and pants are both thoroughly wet with perspiration. 
In this heated condition, I sponge myself oif with cold water 
before dinner, put on dry pants and shirt, and hang up the 
wet ones in the sun to be put on next day. I am sure that by 
this refreshing change, I am abje to do more work. It 
might be thought that applying cold water all over the body 
when every part is dripping with perspiration might make 
me take cold. I have never found it so, even if followed up 
every day. The body is so thoroughly heated that it easily 
resists the shock, and a brisk rubbing leaves one in a fine 
glow. 



A YEAR AMOKG THE BEES. 65 



SWAEMING. 



If I were to meet a man perfect in the entire science and 
art of bee-keeping, and were allowed from him an answer to 
just one question, I would hesitate somewhat whether to ask 
him about swarming or wintering. I think, however, I 
would finally ask for the best and easiest way to prevent 
swarming, for one who is anxious to secure the largest crop 
of comb honey. There are localities where a large crop of 
honey is secured in the fall, and in such place, or in any place 
where the honey-flow is long enough, a larger crop may be 
secured by increase, but I am not so sure about that. If a 
man in such a place starts in the spring with 75 colonies, he 
may get a larger crop by increasing early enough to 150, 
supposing 150 colonies to be the largest number his field will 
bear ; but would he not have a still larger crop if he had the 
150 all through the season and made no increase ? However 
that may be, in my locality, which is not one of the very good 
ones, and where it happens that somewhere from the first 
week in July to the same time in August, the harvest ceases, 
after which the bees hardly get enough to keep themselves — 
in such a place I am satisfied that more honey can be 
harvested by commencing in the spring with the largest 
number the field will bear, and holding at that number, 
always providing that the means taken to keep down increase 
shall in no wise interfere with the best work on the part of 
the bees. 

If I were working for extracted honey, I suppose the 
matter might be managed, to a great extent, if not to the 
fullest extent, by simply giving abundance of room in every 
direction ; but with comb honey, I do not believe that an 
abundance of room in the brood-nest is compatible with the 
largest yield of surplus. I thought at one time that if a 
queen had four frames in the brood-chamber the addition ot 
four more frames could make no possible difference, provid- 
ing the added four were filled with honey when given. I 



66 A TEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

believe, however, that it does make a difference. If honey 
is stored in any part of the brood-chamber, and all the space 
is not needed for brood, the bees seem to get in the way of 
thinking that there is the proper place for storing, and 
possibly through habit continue storing, even after it 
encroaches on the room needed by the queen. This results 
in two evils, viz : The nice, white honey that we want in 
the sections, is stored in brood-combs; and the bees are 
pretty sure to swarm. On the other hand, if only enough 
room is left to barely meet the wants of the queen, that seems 
to be left entirely for her, and the combs are filled with brood 
clear to the outside. On this account I reduce the number 
of brood-combs to four or five when putting on supers. I 
confess that I do not feel entirely sure of my ground, but am, 
as yet, only feeling my way. Neither do I feel sure that I 
have as few swarms as when I kept ten brood-combs in the 
hive. 

It may be that in the future our breeders will give us a 
variety of bees that under fair treatment will never swarm. 
But that time is not yet here. 

MA:NrAGEME:NT OF SWAEMING COLONIES. 

From my first using movable frames, I think I have kept 
my queens' wings clipped, so my experience in having 
natural swarms with flying queens has been very limited. 
But my experience in having swarms issue where and when 
I did not want them, has been very large. Only extreme 
modesty and humility prevents my being very proud of so 
large an experience. If I should ever reach that point where 
I shall be equally successful in preventing swarms, I make 
no promise to be either modest or humble. 

So long as success in prevention of swarms has not been 
reached, it remains an important matter to know the best 
thing to do when swarms do issue. Under ordinary circum- 
tances some one must be on hand to watch for swarms. 
With as many as 100 colonies in an apiary, the one who is on 
watch can hardly be allowed to do anything else. The 



A YEAR AMOKG THE BEES. 67 

regular noise is so great among so many that the added noise 
of a swarm is hardly noticed ; so sight, not hearing, must be 
depended on. I have gone on with my regular work and 
taken a look once in five or ten minutes along the rows to see 
if any swarms were out, but it is not a very satisfactory way 
of doing. A bright boy or girl can watch very well, if faith- 
ful. It is not necessary, of course, to watch all day ; and the 
weather has much to do with the hours at which swarms may 
be expected. On a hot morning a swarm may issue as early 
as six o'clock, but this is exceptional ; and if the weather has 
been cloudy through the day, clearing off bright and warm 
in the after part, a swarm may issue after four o'clock. 
Ordinarily, however, it is not necessary to be on the lookout 
before 8 a.m., or much after 2 p.m. I had a swarm issue once 
in a shower, but that is so unlikely to occur that I would not 
think it worth while to keep any watch at such a time. 

The watcher will soon learn the points of advantage from 
which he can easily command a view of the whole apiary, 
not needing to stir from his seat unless a swarm issues. 
Sometimes, however, there is so much playing going on 
among the bees, that there is no alternative but to travel 
about and take a close look at each colony that shows 
unusual excitement. It is an advantage at this time to have 
the hives in long rows. I have 40 hives in a row. Three 
such rows, 8 feet apart, make 120. At the middle is a shady 
place to sit. A clock or watch lies in open sight so that a 
look at every hive may be taken once in five minutes. If 
there is no time-piece to go by, the watcher may become 
interested in something else, and think the five minutes not 
up when double that time has passed ; but having the time 
measured out, he is free to read or do anything else between 
times. At each five minutes, the watcher, who is sitting at 
the middle of the middle row, rises, glances along the back 
row to the north end ; then, along the middle row to 
the north end ; then, stepping forward, glances along the 
front row to the north end; then along the same row to 
the south end ; then to the south end of the middlejrow ; and 



68 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

lastly to the south end of the back row. All this has taken 
less time than it takes to write it, and the watcher is ready 
to sit down till another five minutes is up. 

If, however, unusual commotion is seen — and, sighting 
along the rows in this way it can easily be seen— the watcher 
goes to the hive for a closer look. Up to the middle of the 
day or later, there is not often much excitement, unless there 
be a swarm ; but after this time so many colonies take their 
play spells that the watcher needs to spend most of his time 
on his feet. 

The watcher is provided with a number of queen-cages. 
These are easily made and the material costs less than a cent 
apiece. I take a pine block, 5xlx3^-inch, and wrap around 
it a piece of wire-cloth 4 inches square. The wire- cloth is 
allowed to project at one end of the block a half-inch. The 
four sides of this projecting end are bent down upon the end 
of the stick and hammered down tight into place. A piece 
of fine wire about 10 inches long is wrapped around the wire- 
cloth, about an inch from the open end, which will be about 
the middle of the stick, and the ends of the wire twisted 
together. I then pull out the block, trim off the corners of 
the end a little so that it will easily enter the cage, slide the 
stick in and out of the cage a number of times so that it will 
work easily, and the thing is complete. When not in use 
the block is pushed clear in, so as to preserve the shape of 
the cage. Such cages can be carried in the pocket without 
danger of being injured. 

When the watcher finds a swarm issuing, he is pretty dull 
if he does not become interested in looking for the queen. 
I do not know of any sure way to find the queen, but she is 
not often missed. I think I can find her most easily by 
watching on the ground in front of the entrance. Very fre- 
quently she comes out at the back end of the hive at the 
place left for ventilation. Rarely she may be found at some 
distance from the hive, on the ground, with a group of bees 
about her. If not found, she is most likely in the hive, and 
the swarm may re-issue in a day or two. She may be lost, 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 69 

but at this particular time her loss is not so very great. 
There is no danger of the swarm being lost ; it will return to 
the hive in a few minutes, although I have known them to 
cluster for half an hour or more before returning. It may 
happen, sometimes, that a swarm may go into a hive whose 
colony has swarmed a little while before, and where it is 
always peacefully received. I do not like this doubling 
up, but I do not know that I lose anything by it, for the bees 
can store up just as much in one hive as another. 

When the watcher finds the queen, she is caged. Either 
the cage is held down for her to run into, or she is allowed to 
run up on the finger and then caged. After the queen is in 
the cage, the block is pushed in an inch or so, and the cage 
put where the bees can take care of it, usually in the vacant 
part of the brood-chamber, which is accessible without tak- 
ing off the super. The number of the hive is taken. 

A few years ago Mr. G. M. Doolittle gave a plan for 
management of swarming colonies when no increase was 
desired. I do not know that he uses it now. I do not know 
that I shall ever use it again, and yet it was valuable to me, 
and for some circumstances nothing may be better. The 
plan, in brief, was this : The queen being caged and left in 
the hive, all queen-cells are cut out in five days from the time 
the swarm issued, and five days later all queen-cells are 
again cut out and the queen set at liberty. 

I used this one season with great satisfaction, and I do not 
remember that any colony thus treated swarmed again. 

The next season I varied the plan. Instead of leaving the 
queen with the colony to remain idle for ten days, I took 
her away and gave her to a nucleus, a new colony, or where- 
ever a queen was needed. At the end of the ten days I 
returned her to the colony, placing her directly upon a comb 
taken from the middle of the brood-nest. Often, however, I 
gave them a different queen, for after an absence of ten days, 
I doubt if they could tell their own queen from any other. 
Besides, they were in a condition to take any queeu without 
grumbling. 



70 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

After the first year, however, I had some colonies swarm 
again after the queen was given them. Whether it was the 
season, the change in the plan, or some other cause, I am 
unable to say. 

I then adopted a plan which relieved me of the necessity 
of hunting for and cutting out queen-cells. 'No matter how 
careful I might be, there was always a possibility that I 
might overlook a queen-cell, although this very rarely hap- 
pened, if ever. But it took a good deal of valuable time. 
I give herewith the plan, which I think an improvement : 

When a swarm issues and returns, it is ready for treatment 
Immediately ; although usually it is put down in my memo- 
randum of work to be done, and the time set for it may be 
the next day or any time within five days, just as suits my 
convenience. The queen is caged at the time of swarming, 
and put in the vacant part of the brood-chamber— possibly 
in the upper part of a super — where the bees can care for her. 

Within the five days, I take off the super, and put most of 
the brood-combs into an empty hive. Indeed I may take all 
the brood-combs, for I want in this hive all the combs the 
colony should have. In the hive left on the stand, I leave 
or put from one to three frames, generally two. These combs 
must be sure to have no queen-cells, and may be most safely 
taken from a young or weak colony having no inclination 
to swarm. The two combs are put in the south side of the 
hive, a division-board and dummy next to them, and the 
supers again put on. If I did not do so at the time of taking 
out the frames, I now shake off the bees from about half the 
frames, not being particular to shake them off clean. This 
hive is then put on the top of the supers, the queen let free 
on top of the frames, and the hive covered up. A plenty of 
bees will be left to care for the brood, the queen will 
commence laying, all thought of swarming is given up, and 
every queen-cell torn down by the bees. In perhaps two 
days I take a peep to see if the queen is laying, for it some- 
times happens that at the time when I " put up the queen, " 
as I call the operation I have just described, there is already 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 71 

a young queen just hatched, and then the old queen is pretty 
sure to be destroyed. In this latter case I may remove the 
youDg queen and give them a laying one, or I may let the 
young queen remain. 

In ten days from the time the swarm issued— sometimes 
ten days from the time I " put up the queen "—I put down 
the queen. If, by chance, a young queen is in the upper 
hive, I do not like to put her down until she commences lay- 
ing and her wing is clipped, for fear of her taking oat a 
swarm. It seems a foolish operation for them to swarm 
when there is nothing in the hive from which a queen can 
be reared, but I have had it happen. The operation of put- 
ting down is very simple. I lift the hive off the top, place it 
on the ground, remove the supers, take the hive off 
the stand, place it on one side, put the hive contain- 
ing the queen on the stand, and replace the supers. At the 
time I put up the queen I changed the number-tag, so as to 
keep the number always on the hive containing the queen. 

You will see that this leaves the queen full chance to lay 
from the minute she is uncaged, and at the time of putting 
down there will be as much brood as if the queen had 
remained in her usual place. Most of the bees, of course, 
adhered to the lower hive when the queen was put up, but 
by the time she is put down quite a force has hatched out, 
and these have marked the upper hive as their location. Upon 
this being taken away, the bees, as they return from the 
field, will settle upon the cover, where their hive was, and 
form a cluster there ; finally an explorer will crawl down to 
the entrance of the hive below, and a line of march in that 
direction will be established immediately. In a day dt two 
they will go straight to the proper entrance. 

We left, standing on the ground, the hive with its two 
combs, which had been taken from the stand. These two 
combs, when the queen was put up, probably had a good 
quantity of eggs, and brood in all stages. They now contain 
none but sealed brood, some queen-cells and a pretty heavy 
supply of pollen. Or, it may be that eggs from an imported 



72 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

queen were given, and the queen-cells are to be saved. A 
goodly number of bees adhere to the two combs and I know 
of no nicer way to start a new colony, than simply to place 
the hive in a new location. Or, the bees may be shaken off 
at the old stand and the combs used again to do duty as they 
have done during the last ten days, or given to a nucleus 
which needs them. 

It may be objected that this keeping beesqueenless for ten 
days makes them work with less vigor. I am not sure but it 
ought, but I must confess I have had no strong proof of it 
come directly under my own observation. So far as I could 
tell, these bees seemed to work just as hard when their queen 
was taken away as before. In the spring of 1885 one colony 
was, by some means, left entirely away from the proper 
rows— some three rods from any other colony. I took it 
away, put it in proper line, and left to catch the returning 
stragglers a hive containing one comb, this comb having no 
brood and very little if any honey. This colony having been 
a very weak one, very few bees returned to the old spot, but 
these few surprised me by filling a good stock of honey in 
empty comb, before they were put with the rest of the colony. 

Swarms treated on this '' putting up " plan often swarmed 
again, but if they did they were put up again. An objection 
to the plan was that these " put-ups " were in the way and 
had to be lifted down when anything was done with supers. 
Still, for any one who allows the bees to swarm, and who 
does not object to the lifting, the plan is a good one. 

PREVEIS^TION OF SWARMING. 

I have, however, been anxious to find some way by which 
I couM prevent swarms. I am not sure that it can ever be 
profitably done, but I am not willing to abandon the effort 
without a faithful trial. 

If I knew all about just what makes a colony swarm, I 
would be in better shape to use preventive measures ; but I 
do not know. Of course there are some general things that 
I know about it, such as heat and want of room in the brood- 



A YEAH AMOKG THE BEES. 73 

nest, but a good deal of mystery envelops it. I have tried 
taking away the queen of a colony which had swarmed, and 
giving in its place a queen which had just commenced to lay, 
leaving no queen-cells in the hive. Within three days the 
young laying queen would come off with a swarm. 

One season I kept eight brood-combs in the hive, and 
every week or ten days took out two of the central combs, 
replacing them with foundation or empty combs. This was 
to give the queen so much room that there should be no 
desire to swarm. It was successful in most cases, but there 
were too many exceptions to make the plan reliable. 

The next season I settled upon a plan which I felt pretty 
sure would prevent the possibility of swarming. It was a no 
less radical measure than to keep the colony queenless. I 
reasoned that as I had never had a queen hatched inside of 
eleven days from the time the queen was taken away, or 
from the time the bees started queen-cells, the colony was 
safe from swarming if once in ten days I took away their 
brood and gave them fresh ; also, that it was only bees over 
two weeks old that worked in the field ; add to this the three 
weeks that it took from the egg to the full-fledged worker, 
and it was five weeks or more from the time the egg was 
laid till the bee became a gatherer. Clearly, then, only such 
bees as came from eggs laid five weeks or more before the 
close of the honey harvest were available as gatherers. Why 
not have the colony queenless during this five weeks ? So I 
took away the queen, leaving in the hive three combs, one of 
which contained eggs and brood in all stages, the other two 
containing nothing from which queen-cells could be started. 

Once in ten days the comb of young brood with its queen- 
cells was taken away and a fresh one given them, and at the 
close of the five weeks, w^hich was about the close of the 
harvest, the queen was returned. As a preventive of swarm- 
ing, it was a complete success. I^ot one colony thus treated 
swarmed ; how could they V As a means of securing a large 
crop, I think it was an egregious failure ; although I can 
hardly tell with great definiteness, the season itself being ^ 



74 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

failure. Possibly the absence of the queen itself had some- 
thing to do with lessening their stores, but I doubt it. But 
when all combs of brood but one were taken away, a large 
force of prospective bees were taken away that would have 
hatched out in from 1 to 21 days. All the brood taken away 
when the queen was taken, even the eggs, would have 
produced bees in time for at least part of the honey harvest. 
Besides, those that might have hatched during the last week 
of the harvest, although they might gather not a drop, would 
be able to take the places of older ones, that in the absence 
of recruits were obliged to stay in the hives to do home duty. 

If I had allowed four or five frames of brood, changing 
every ten days, the result might have been quite different. 
Moreover, the one frame they did have was, for the most 
part, filled with brood so young, that little or none of it 
hatched while in the hive. If I should try anything in the 
same line again, I should keep four or five frames in the hive, 
and this should be mainly brood well advanced so that much 
of it would hatch out to replenish the wasting numbers. 

The problem, however, which I am most anxious to solve 
is, how to manage to have no swarms, and still allow the 
queen to remain laying in the hive all the time. It may 
never be solved, but it is worth some dreaming over. 

QUEEIN^-REARING. 

My sole business being to produce honey, I am not particu- 
lar to keep a popular breed of bees, only so far as their 
popularity comes from their good qualities as honey- 
producers. I am anxious to have those that are good 
gatherers, good winterers, not cross, and not given to much 
swarming. I have no great confidence in my ability as a 
scientific breeder, so I have not attempted to establish a 
strain of my own, but every year or two I send to A. I. Root 
for one of his best imported queens. I know that there is 
more or less of uncertainty about this way of doing, but I 
am not sure that I know any better way. I am at least sure 
of good stock, and I am equally sure that amongst my own 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 75 

rearing I have had some very bad stock. I get the queen in 
July if I can, more likely in August. I prefer this time 
because a queen then costs less, because it is less trouble to 
establish the queen in a colony of her own than early or late 
in the season, and because such queens are reared at a season 
of the year when they are more likely to be good. She is of 
little or no use to me till the succeeding year, but she is in 
good condition for that. 

I do not mean to be understood that all my bees are pure 
Italians. Some of them are very fine ; excelling in beauty 
any I ever reared from imported queens ; and some have a 
good share of black blood in them. Neither do I mean that 
all my queens are reared from imported stock. When it is 
convenient I often rear a queen of what appears good stock, 
and frequently the bees take the matter into their own hands 
and supersede their queen with one to suit their own notions. 
I have had good queens at three and four years old, but as 
a rule I suspect better results might be had not to keep them^ 
so long. A queen, however, which seems to be doing good 
work, so long as she remains quietly in her place, is in no 
great danger of decapitation, for it is quite a disturbance of 
the domestic arrangements to change the queen of a colony 
that is bending right down to solid business ; but if, by 
swarming or otherwise, a queen is out of her colony, her 
chances of getting back alive are not very good, if she is 
over two years old. 

It is of great importance to have good queens, and in 
former years I did not hesitate to break up my strongest 
colonies to secure good conditions for queen-rearing, but I 
found— perhaps I ought to say stumbled upon— a better way. 

I do not want my imported queen to do very heavy laying, 
as she will last longer if not overworked ; and I prefer to 
have a rather weak force of bees with her during the busy 
season, letting the colony build up somewhat late, so as to 
be in good condition for winter ; so through the main part of 
the season her hive stands on the top of the hive or super of 
some other colony, changing to a new one as often as it con- 



76 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

tains too many bees. Among other things, this prevents 
her from swarming. When her hive is changed to a new 
place, the field force readily unites with the colony over 
which it has previously stood. 

About the time the honey-flow fairly commences, I make 
preparations for queen-rearing. The first thing wanted is 
some worker comb, preferably new, evenly filled with eggs. 
I take one of the middle combs of the hive containing the 
imported queen, and tit centrally into it two pieces of worker 
comb taken from one-pound sections. These are about four 
inches square and I select those which have been drawn out 
about the proper depth for brood-rearing, or trim them to 
that depth. The honey has all been removed, probably the 
previous year. A piece is cut out of the brood-comb for 
each section and the section merely crowded in. I do not 
mean, of course, any of the wood of the section, just the 
comb. Between the two holes cut out for the sections to be 
crowded in, about an inch space is left. If a wired frame is 
used, the wires must be cut. If I remember rightly, Mr. A. 
I. Eoot objected to my mutilating combs in this way, but as 
the holes are immediately filled up, no mutilation appears. 

Suppose these section combs thus prepared to be put in the 
middle of the brood-nest on June 1, 1 look, on June 2, to see 
if eggs are to be foimd. Most likely; if not, almost surely 
June 3. About 3 days from the time eggs are first laid, I cut 
out these sections and replace them with fresh ones. Then 
the sections are cut up and attached to brood-combs in the 
manner directed by Mr. Alley in his book on queen-rearing, 
only instead of leaving an egg in each alternate cell, I leave 
one in every third cell. Scraping off the top-bar of the frame 
which contains these eggs, I write on it '' 16, " as June 16 is 
the earliest day possible on which a queen can hatch. I know 
it is considered that it should take 16 days for a queen to 
hatch, but in very strong colonies I have known them to 
hatch in 15. This frame is then given to a strong colony, 
usually one that has swarmed. Of course the queen must 
be taken away. It is put betweeu two other frames, neither 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 77 

of which has any eggs or unsealed brood, although it is 
better if it has sealed brood. These three brood-frames are 
the only ones in the hive, and all the bees have to do, is 
to rear queen-cells and fill their supers. I have spoken of 
one hive, but the two sections ought to furnish eggs enough 
for at least three or four colonies to start queen-cells from. 
If they are colonies that have just swarmed, there is no 
loss, for they would be kept queenless anyhow. 

I can hardly think of any way possible by which I could 
rear stronger or better queens ; but among them I have 
reared some not worth keeping. Bees seem to have an 
instinct for starting a succession of queen-cells, and where 
a natural swarm has issued there may be several days 
between the hatching of the first and last queen-cells. Of 
course these are started from eggs or grubs of different 
ages. In the present case, the bees probably start what 
they think the proper number for a beginning, and a few 
days later when they want to start more there are nothing 
but well advanced larvse, so they use them. The result is 
poorly developed queens. To avoid this, all larvse not in 
incipient queen-cells should be destroyed in 24 or 48 hours 
after the eggs have been given. 

I have always used the regular-sized frames for queen- 
rearing nuclei, but I do not usually occupy a whole hive for 
a single nucleus. Years ago I separated a hive into six 
apartments having one frame each ; an entrance at the front 
end, one at the back, and two at each side, one of which was 
at the front lower corner and one at the back upper corner. 
This worked well, but was open to the objection that anucleus 
hive could be used for nothing else. As I do not make a 
business of rearing queens for other than my own use, I 
prefer to use regular hives with very little changing ; so I put 
a division-board in the middle and have two nuclei in a hive. 
The middle part of the entrance is closed and each nucleus 
has its own end of the entrance. There is more likelihood of 
a bee or queen going into another hive than of going into the 
entrance at the wrong end. The greatest trouble is to have 



78 A^TEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

the division-board so tight that no bee can go from one 
side to the other. 

As I make much use of these double hives, I am not satis- 
fied with any division-board that I have ever used. Although 
they may be all right at first, 1 have lost a good many queens 
by finding that later there was a passage from one side to the 
other under the division-board. The only way I can account 
for it is, that in the hive it is always dry and if any change 
takes place in the division-board, at all, it shrinks, although 
made of thoroughly seasoned stuff : on the other hand, the 
body of the hive being exposed to the weather may swell, es- 
pecially toward fall. Either the shrinking of the division- 
board, or the swelling of the body of the hive, or both 
together would cause a passage under the division-board. 
I am thinking of remedying this, by nailing in the bottom of 
the hive and at each end, a little tin trough in which the 
division-board, if it shrinks, may play up and down without 
danger of making any passage for bees. 

As I have previously described, the division-board is a plain 
board about %-inch thick, having a top-bar %x%. This top- 
bar is nailed down at each end by a ^-inch wire nail. Over 
the whole hive is now laid a piece of cotton cloth or sheeting 
that will fully cover it and allow for shrinkage. Over this 
cloth, directly upon the top-bar, is laid a piece %x%, exactly 
like the top-bar, and nailed down near each end with ^-inch 
wire nails. When the hive is tilled there is no possibility of 
any bee crossing from one side to the other at the top, until 
holes have been gnawed through the cloth on both sides. 
My hives being 10-frame ones, there is room in each side of 
these double hives for four frames and a dummy. I have 
sometimes used five frames in each side, but it makes them 
too crowded. 

Having these nucleus or double hives thus arranged, a 
nucleus is started in each of them. In each is put two frames of 
brood and bees, next to the division-board, so that each 
nucleus may have the benefit of the heat of the other. As I 
have already intimated, there is no nicer way to establish 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 79 

nuclei than to take bees of a swarming colony. Most of them 
will stay wherever they are put. In fact, any bees that 
know they are queenless, are more apt to remain attached 
to their combs wherever they are put. 

As the queens may hatch out on June 16, it is well to have 
these nuclei made two or three days in advance, and it is 
absolutely necessary to do so if the bees for the nucleus are 
taken from a colony having a queen. They must be queen- 
less long enough to fully realize their condition or they will 
tear down the queen-cells given them. I have, however, 
started the nuclei frequently just at the time of cutting 
out and giving them queen-cells, by taking a good number of 
bees from a colony or larger nucleus engaged already in 
building queen-cells. If I want to use a nucleus or a pair of 
them, for queen-rearing only, to be broken up afterward, I 
generally put them on the top, over some other colony, so 
that the bees may be there united when the nucleus is taken 
away. 

For cutting out queen-cells or for cutting comb for any 
purpose, it is quite important to have the right kind of knife. 
For some time, I used the small thin blade of a pocket-knife, 
but it was too short ; the large blade was too thick. I 
happened upon an old-fashioned case-knife or tea-knife that 
suits me well. It is of Qne steel, extremely thin, the blade 
43^-inches long, and ^-inch w^ide at the widest part and 
3^-inch wide toward the point. 

On June 1, the empty comb was given to the imported 
queen, on June 4 or 5 the eggs were given to the strong, 
queenless colony, and on June 15 or 16 the queen-cells must 
be cut out and given to the nuclei. I have had queen-cells 
hatch out in good shape by simply placing them between the 
combs, and even by laying them on top of the frames, but I 
think I have had better success by the old-fashioned way of 
patching them into the comb, right among the brood. 

In some cases I have done well in giving virgin queens, 
caged for a day or two, but my experience has been limited. 
About five days after giving the queen-cell, on June 20 or 21, 



80 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

I take a look at it. It may have hatched, the bees may have 
torn it down, or it may remain unhatched. If unhatched on 
June 22, it is likely dead, and if still alive, I have my doubts 
about the value of a queen having no more ambition than to 
be so long in hatching. If the cell shows that the queen has 
hatched, but I do not happen to see her, I enter on the record 
'' q.h., " meaning queen hatched. If I see the young queen 
I make the entry '' s. y. q., "—saw young queen. In either 
case, I give the nucleus a frame containing some eggs or 
young brood. If the cell is torn down or bad, I give them 
another. 

My experience has been that a queen only a day or two old 
is as easily found as an old queen ; but as she grows older, 
up to the time she commences laying she is very hard to 
find. I almost always see the queen the first time I look, 
after she has been hatched ; but I do not know that it is any 
better than to see the cell properly opened. About a week 
later, on June 28, 1 look to see if the queen is laying. 

If I find eggs, I clip both wings of the queen on one side ; 
generally the two left wings. I use a pair of small embroid- 
ery scissors. I catch the queen by the wings, with the thumb 
and finger of the right hand, and while clipping her I hold 
her by the thorax with the thumb and finger of the left 
hand. 

If I find no eggs, and no queen-cells are started, I feel 
confident they have a queen, and look a few days later to see 
if she is laying. If there are no eggs, and I find queen-cells 
started, I suspect they are queenless, the queen having 
probably been lost on her bridal tour. I am not sure of this, 
however, for sometimes they will start queen-cells w^hile a 
virgin queen is in the hive, but if by July 1 there are still 
no eggs, and the queen-cells not torn down, I consider it a 
pretty sure thing that it is a hopeless case. 

In the record-book something like the following entries 
may be found: '' June 16, g q c (16— 21.) 21st s y q, g y br. 
28th cl q. " This means that on June 16, 1 gave the nucleus 
a queen-cell that could not hatch before June 16, and ought 



A YKAR AMOXG THE BEES. 81 

not to hatch later than June 21 ; that on June 21 I saw the 
young queen and gave them young brood ; and that on June 
28, 1 clipped the wing of the queen which I found laying. 

IKTRODUCING QUEENS. 

If I wish to take one of these queens to introduce else- 
where, my favorite plan of introduction,— almost, indeed, 
the only one I ever used,— is to place the queen, without cag- 
ing, directly on the middle of a comb of brood, right among 
the bees. I must first be sure that these bees have started 
queen-cells. If I wish to introduce an imported, or other 
valuable queen, I give her to a frame of brood with 
young bees just gnawing out, or else to bees that I am sure 
are young, by having moved them a day or two before, in the 
middle of the day, to a new location, so that the old bees 
might all fly back to the old location. 

I gave my general way of introducing a queen,— by that I 
mean when I introduce the queen alone, but generally it 
happens that I can take the frame of brood on which I find 
her, and put it, bees and all, where I want the queen to be. 
In time of a honey- flow, I have even done this without 
being sure that they realized their queenlessness. 

INCREASE BY NUCLEI. 

After a nucleus is started, it is an easy thing to build it up 
into a colony, by adding frames of comb or foundation as 
fast as the bees can take care of them. During the hot 
season of the year, I do not hesitate to spread the brood of 
these young colonies, for there is little danger of chilling, and 
I think they can be made to rear brood faster than if left to 
themselves. One year I took 12 colonies to the out apiary, 
increased them to 81, and took 1,200 pounds of honey, by 
means of this nucleus process. All the help they had from 
other colonies was the eggs from which to rear queens ; but 
they had no combs to build, being furnished with ready- 
built combs, and the honey taken was extracted buckwheat. 



82 A TEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

I do not know that there ever was such a yield of buckwheat 
here before or since. 



UNITIKG NUCLEI. 

There is much irregularity in the matter of rearing queens. 
Sometimes every queen seems to know what is expected of 
her, and commences laying right along ; while at other times 
many fail. Perhaps both queens in one double mve do nicely ; 
in another, both fail. It may be the first queen-cell given 
fails, and a second, and even a third, may meet the same 
fate. I do not want to keep on rearing queens after the 
harvest is over ; so I must make allowances for these failures, 
by starting more than I want. 

Suppose toward the close of the season I have used all the 
queens I want in full colonies, the nuclei that I did not care 
to keep have been broken up, and there remain some queen- 
less among the nuclei in the double hives intended to be 
built up into full colonies. If the nucleus in one side of a 
double hive is queenless, and the other has a laying queen, 
the two are united. A passage is made in some way through 
or under the division-board, and in two or three days nearly 
all the bees will be found in the side having the queen. The 
combs, or a sufficient number of them, may then be put 
together. Sometimes I make the union at once by simply 
putting the division-board to one side. 

It may be that Ko. 5 has a queen in each side, while No. 6 
has one in neither. In this case I take from No. 5 the frame 
containing the queen and put it, bees and all, in No. 6. Both 
sides of No. 6 may be at once united, and the same thing 
may be done at No. 5 a couple of days later. In this way 
every hive contains at least one queen, and some of them 
two. These latter will remain as two separate colonies, 
unless by means of a defective division-board they take the 
matter of uniting into their own hands. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 83 



FALL FEEDmO. 



If colonies have not enough stores for winter at the close 
of the clover harvest— and with my present management 
they are not likely to have— 1 can hardly expect them to 
gather from later sources more than will meet their daily 
needs, till winter closes in upon them. So they must be fed ; 
and there is nothing, so far as I know, to be gained, and 
perhaps something to be lost, by postponing the feeding till 
late. In my locality, perhaps there is no better time than 
August. Of course, in some localities, it would be folly to 
feed so early, if indeed it would be necessary to feed at all. 

The feeders are the same as used in the spring— combs— 
and the paraphernalia for filling the combs the same as that 
described in spring management. The syrup is made 
stronger— 5 quarts of water to 25 pounds of sugar ; perhaps I 
had better say 5 pounds of sugar to one quart of water. I 
think that a stronger syrup might be better, as requiring 
less evaporation by the bees, but 5 pounds to the quart is 
about as thick as can well be filled into the combs without 
having it too hot for safety. An even tea-spoonful of tartaric 
acid for every 20 pounds of sugar is stirred into the syrup 
iabout the time the sugar is dissolved. The tartaric acid is 
first dissolved in a little water. I am not sure whether the 
tartaric acid is necessary, although if not fed to the bees the 
syrup without the acid will granulate in a short time. It 
takes a long time for the syrup to cool enough to be poured 
into the combs, and it is well to have a tub of syrup left over 
from the previous day to mix with the hot. 

Care must be taken to let no bees get in where the combs 
are being filled, and still greater care that none which get in 
shall get out alive. Every precaution must be taken to avoid 
getting the bees started to robbing. The entrances of the 
hives should be closed all but two or three inches. If the 
entrances were shallower it might make it too warm to close 
up so much. The combs must be put into the hives as near 



84 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

dark in the evening as convenient. I have put them in as 
late as 9 o'clock, using a lantern. 

Generally, T put two frames of feed at a time in each hive, 
outside the division-board, being sure that there is a passage 
for the bees to get to it. The large size of my hives comes 
very convenient now, for there is plenty of space to easily 
put in the frames even in the dark, there being only four or 
five frames occupied by the bees. Of course I have pre- 
viously made an estimate as to how many frames of feed 
each colony will need, by looking them over. Some may need 
none, and some be entirely destitute. These latter will get 
about four frames of feed (given on two different evenings), 
and others in proportion. There is little danger of giving 
too much. In the double hives the colonies are not large 
where two are in a hive, and three combs is all they need for 
the winter. There is room for but one frame of feed at a 
time, outside the dummy ; and this frame is the first one 
reached by any bee coming in at the entrance. This makes 
it less secure against robbing, but I want the two nuclei to 
be in the middle of the hive for warmth, and they are not to 
be disturbed again before winter. As the feeding is done 
in the evening, I have had no difficulty from robbing. 

The same set of combs is used over and over again— there 
is no trouble in taking out the empty combs in a day or two 
by daylight— and when all feeding is done these combs are 
put away in supers in the shop, securely covered up from 
mice. I know of no way in which mice can more rapidly do 
a bee-keeper damage, than by getting at empty combs, 
especially those in which brood has been reared. 

SHAKING BEES OEE COMBS. 

Speaking of taking the empty combs out of the hive, 
reminds me of a little device worth knowing, in getting bees 
off combs that are not too heavy. Hold the frame in the 
left hand, by one end of the top-bar, and with the closed fist 
of the right hand pound on the back of the left hand. Avery 
few strokes will take off the last bee. Let the strokes be 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 85 

made in pairs, first a light stroke, and then very quickly- 
after it a heavy one. If the combs are heavy, this plan will 
not work. For heavy combs I know of no plan better than 
one I learned from G. M. Doolittle, which is this : 

Take hold with each hand at the ends of the top-bar, 
supporting the weight by the first and second fingers. Kaise 
the frame, letting the thumbs be well raised from the top- 
bar. Kow let the frame fall, and as it falls strike hard upon 
the top-bar with the ball of each thumb. This gives the 
frame a jerk, and it immediately gets another jerk by being 
suddenly stopped from further falling, by the fingers. There 
is something about this having the jerks in pairs, that 
breaks the hold of the bees upon the combs in a way that 
cannot be done if more time is allowed to elapse between the 
jerks. 

DOUBLE HIVES EOE FULL COLONIES. 

After the bees are fed they are ready for winter quarters, 
without further preparation. There is, however, one thing 
that I have practiced to a very limited extent, and from my 
experience so far, I expect to practice it more in the future. 
I mean putting two colonies into one hive. From the time 
the bees are fed in the summer or fall, till perhaps the 
middle of May, most of my colonies would have room enough 
in one-half of a ten-frame hive. I am not sure that any of 
them ever need more room through the fall and winter, and 
in the spring they need no more till more than four frames 
are needed for brood. With some, this may come quite 
early, but I think I should be well satisfied if I could get all 
my colonies to contain four combs well filled with brood by 
the middle of May. Some of them may have at that time 
brood in 9 or 10 frames, but more of them could have all 
their brood crowded into three or four combs. 

Now, if during the time I have mentioned, we 'can have 
two colonies in one hive, we shall, I think, find it advantage- 
ous in more than one direction. It is a common thing for 



86 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

bee-keepers to unite two weak colonies in the fall. Suppose 
a bee-keeper has two colonies in the fall, each occupying two 
combs. He unites them so they will winter better. If they 
would not quarrel and would stay wherever they were put, 
he could place the two frames of the one hive beside the 
two frames in the other hive, and the thing would be done. 
l^Qw suppose that a thin division-board were placed between 
the two sets of combs, would he not see the same result ? 
Kot quite, I think, but nearly so. They would hardly be so 
warm as without the division-board, but nearly so ; and both 
queens would be saved. In the spring it is desirable to keep 
the bees warm. If two colonies are in one hive, with a thin 
division-board between them, they will be much warmer 
than if in separate hives. The same thing is true in winter. 
I have had weak nuclei with two combs come through in 
good condition during a winter in which I lost heavily ; these 
nuclei having no extra care or protection other than being in 
a double hive. 

I^ow suppose we have 100 colonies that are all fed up for 
winter and they are then put into double hives. Please 
understand that there is little or no extra expense for these 
double hives. They are just the regular hives and 
we have the division-boards anyway ; only we take special 
pains to see that the division-board is perfectly bee- 
tight. If the hives are to be hauled home, as I haul mine 
each fall, there are only 50 instead of 100 to haul ; just half 
the bulk, and a much less weight than the 100 would be. 
Just half the hives are to be handled in taking in and out of 
winter quarters ; just half the room is occupied in winter 
quarters ; and I think, although I do not know, that the bees 
will winter better than if only one colony in a hive. If they 
are to be taken, in the spring, to a distant apiary, there is 
the advantage of hauling only 50 hives instead of 100. If, in 
the spring, any colony be found queenless it is in fine position 
to be united with its fellow colony. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 87 



CHANGING FROM SINGLE TO DOUBLE HIVES. 

Possibly you may be ready to agree with me so far as to 
say, " Certainly, the thing looks desirable, but is it feas- 
ible V Will not the trouble counterbalance all advantage ? " 
I know it is usually a matter of some trouble to change a 
colony from one location to another in the same apiary. I 
think, however, that I have reduced the trouble to a mini- 
mum. I will give you my plan and you can judge for 
yourself. 

As I have already told you, my hives stand in pairs, and I 
kept them so, years before I thought of double hives. Sup- 
pose there are 100 colonies in the apiary and we want to put 
them into 50 hives. All are fed up ready for winter, and 
each one has four combs. I am not sure that all colonies 
can be reduced to four combs, as I have never reduced all of 
my colonies to this number, and I have sometimes wished 
my hives were 11-frame instead of 10-frame, so that my 
double hives would hold five frames on each side. 1 might, 
however, have the division-board a little to one side, and 
have five frames on one- half the hive, and four in the other. 
I have spoken heretofore of keeping the brood-frames on the 
south side of the hive. This has been my general custom, 
but I have practiced to some extent having the entrances of 
each pair of hives at opposite ends. For instance : Nos. 1 
and 2 stand close together. The hives facing east, the 
brood-nest of No. 1 is at the north side, and of No. 2 at the 
south side. This is perhaps the better way. The bees of 
No. 1 use mostly the north end of their entrance and the 
bees of No. 2 use the south end. When the bees are fed, 
only these ends of the entrances are left open. 

Now remove Nos. 1 and 2 from their stands, and remove 
one of the stands and put the other in the middle of the 
space occupied by two stands. On this stand place a double 
hive prepared as already described for queen-rearing 



88 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

nuclei. Put the combs and bees from No. 1 in the north 
side of the double hive, and those from No. 2 in the south 
side, and cover up the double hive. A few bees will remain 
in the old hive, and these may be placed in front at each 
side of the double hive, the alighting-board of the old hive 
resting on one corner of the alighting-board of the double 
hive. In a short time all the bees will have crawled into the 
new hive, when the old ones may be removed. Put the 
number- tags from the old hives, each on the proper side of 
the front of the double hive. 

The matter is now accomplished and it has been no long or 
difficult job. The bees use the new entrance almost as read- 
ily as the old. To them their hive seems moved less than its 
width to one side, and there is no possible danger of their 
entering the wrong place. I have tried it, and watched the 
result, therefore I speak of not what the bees ought to do, 
but what they do do. 

CHANGING FKOM DOUBLE TO SINGLE HIVES. 

Can we as easily get them back into two hives in the spring 
when they become crowded in this double hive ? Just 
exactly as easily. We simply reverse the operation. . Take 
the double hive from its place and replace it with the two 
stands and two hives, then remove the contents of the double 
hive and put them in the proper single hives, and the bees 
will go every time to the right place. I speak again from 
personal observation as to what the bees actually do. 

ENTRANCES OF DOUBLE HIVES. 

I am not sure just what is the best size for the entrances 
of these double hives. They are not used in hot weather 
except for nuclei, and I have done as follows : 

I first put in a wooden plug to close up that part of the 
entrance in front of the division-board. This plug is about 
IxJ^x^i inch, and generally a little lump of beeswax is used 
to wedge it tightly in place. The plug being of the same 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 89 

width as the thickness of the hive stuff, % of an inch, it 
comes flush with the front surface of the hive. I then take 
a piece of lath 8 or 9 inches long, set it up on its edge against 
the middle part of the entrance, lay against the lath a 1-inch 
wire nail, and crowd the nail into the bottom or alighting- 
board by means of the thumb-nail or a chisel. 

MACHmE FOE EMPTYING T-SUPERS. 

My arrangement for taking sections out of the T-supers is 
made in a common wooden hive-cover, 8 inches deep, 21 
inches long, and 173^ inches wide, inside measure. These 
exact dimensions are not absolutely essential, but I happened 
to have this on hand. Practical difhculties, however, would 
come in the way of anything much smaller. Now make a 
box without top or bottom, 163^x11, and 6 inches deep. The 
hive-cover being set upside down, put this smaller box in it, 
near one corner, so that the side of the box shall be 1 7-16 
inches from the side of the hive-cover, and the end of the 
box 1 5-16 inches from the end of the hive-cover. Now nail 
the box securely to the hive-cover, and cut out that part of 
the hive-cover which is now the bottom of the smaller box. 
This whole arrangement, so far, is merely to hold a bearing- 
board in place. 

, The bearing-board is now to be made. Take a board 16^ 
inches long and 11 inches wide. Take boards 12 inches long 
and 3^-inch thick and nail them across the first board so as 
to just cover its length, and project 3^-inch at each side. 
This makes a surface 16^x12 inches. If this bearing-board 
be now put inside an empty T-super, and the T-super raised, 
it will be seen that the bearing-board will easily drop through 
the super, except where it is upheld by the three pieces of 
sheet-iron on each side. Places must be cut out of the 
bearing-board so that the sheet-iron pieces will present no 
hindrance. In order to make these places abundantly large, 
I cut them 1%^% inch. When cut out, the measure will be, 
from the corner of the board to the first place or hole, 33^ 



90 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

inches, then 13^ inches for the hole, then 2 13-16 to the next 
hole, and the same from each corner. 

Now place this bearing-board on the top of the box in the 
hive-cover, just where a super will most easily pass down 
over it, having one corner of the super all the while held 
tightly up in the corner of the hive-cover. T!^ail the bearing- 
board there with two or three nails, leaving the heads of the 
nails out, so that they can be afterward drawn out with a 
claw-hammer. If your work has been well done, when a 
super is placed over this bearing-board, the corner of the 
super being held tight in the corner of the hive-cover, there 
will be an equal space at each side between the bearing- 
board and the side of the super, also at each end between 
the bearing-board and the end of the super. 

Now turn over the hive-cover. The part of the hive-cover 
which was cut away allows access to the bottom of the 
bearing-board. Two stops are to be nailed on the bearing- 
board, so that when not nailed to the box it can be quickly 
pushed to the exact place it now occupies. One stop 73^x 
%xyi (neither of these dimensions is essential), is placed 
across the bearing -board, tight against the end of the box, 
one end of the stop being tight up in that corner of the box 
nearest the corner of the hive-cover. The other stop, about 
1 foot long, is to be placed lengthwise of the bearing-board, 
tight against that side of the box which is nearest the hive- 
cover. Now turn over the whole affair and draw the nails 
that fastened the bearing-board to the box. By reason of 
the stops, the bearing-board can be placed upon the box and 
instantly pushed up to its place. 

If you now attempt to lift the bearing-board, having the 
fingers of each hand under each end, you will find there is 
not room enough for the fingers of the left hand, the end of 
the hive-cover being in the way. A place, therefore, 6 inches 
long and 3 inches deep is cut out to make room for the hand, 
and enough is whittled away on the under part of the 
bearing-board at each end, and also at the top edge of the box 
to allow plenty of room for the fingers easily to get a hold 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 91 

under the end of the bearing- board. The two stops prevent 
the bearing-board from standing level and solid on a table.so 
another stop or small block must be nailed on the unsupported 
part toward the corner, but near enough the centre not to 
interfere with its free working. The under part of the 
bearing- board, which is of ^ or 1 inch stuff, is better in two 
pieces or split through in the middle to prevent warping. 
Pains must be taken to see that the hive-cover used is 
perfectly square. 

TAKING SECTI0:N^S OUT OF T-SUPERS. 

To take out sections with this arrangement, I place it in 
front of me on a table— no fastening is necessary— so that the 
box inside the hive-cover shall be nearest to that side of the 
hive-cover which is next to me, and the end of the box which 
comes nearest the end of the hive-cover shall be at my left 
hand. The bearing-board is now put in place, and pushed 
tight in the left hand corner. The super full of sections is 
placed on the bearing-board and crowded close to the left 
hand corner. I now lean forward, throwing the weight of 
my body partly upon the super, and pressing with the left 
fore-arm upon the end and opposite side. Then with the 
closed fist of the right hand I strike upon the farther corner 
of the super at the right hand. This breaks the attachments 
of the sections at this corner, and I then strike upon the 
different parts of the super so as to get it started all around. 
Then putting a hand on each end of the super, I push it 
evenly down and let it drop in the hive-cover. The bearing- 
board is lifted out with its load of sections, and the now 
empty super is also lifted out. 

It is often better, perhaps always, to run a case-knife 
around so as to cut through the propolis that may fasten the 
upper part of the sections to the super. The fist will become 
sore if used for much pounding, so I use a heavy hatchet or 
hand-axe. With this it is not necessary to strike heavily, 
whereas a light hatchet must be struck so hard that it would 



92 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

mar the super and not start the sections so easily. It is 
important to bear down upon the super while striking. 

The above is for the late work when all supers are to be 
emptied. You will remember that the first supers that were 
taken off had the unfinished sections put back on the hives 
to be finished. I will now explain how this was done. 

The sections may all be taken out of the supers, or the 
finished ones may be left in the super till later, merely taking 
out the unfinished ones. To accomplish this latter, blocks 
must be put in the bottom of the hive-cover— I mean the 
inside bottom as it lies ready for use— so that the super 
cannot fall clear down, but will fall upon the blocks and then 
be only so far down that K or % inch of the sections are still 
in the super. The unfinished sections can now be picked off 
the sides, for they will always be found in that part of the 
super. Then I lay a board about the same size as a hearing- 
board upon the sections, and hold this board down with my 
chin, while I raise the super by the hand-holes at each end. 
As soon as it is raised enough for the thumbs to reach on the 
top of the board while the fingers still remain in the hand- 
holes, I relieve the chin from further duty, and raise the 
super up till the sections are fully in place, holding the board 
down by pressing with the thumbs. The super is then piled 
up till the regular time for taking out all. 

It is well to have two or more bearing-boards so that they 
can be taken directly to the scrapers, and the one who takes 
out, can be taking out on one board while the scraper is 
emptying another. One bearing-board can be made to do, 
by having several plain boards of the same size or a little 
larger. Lay a plain board on the table and the bearing-board 
full of sections beside it, letting the projecting half-inch of 
the thin boards of the bearing-board rest on the edge of the 
plain board. Kow slide the sections in a body from one 
board to the other. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 



SCEAPING SECTIONS. 



When the sections are taken out they go directly to the 
scraper. Mrs. M. and Emma always do the scraping, and a 
first requisite seems to be to array themselves in the most 
hideous apparel. At least the outside garment must be of 
that description, for bee-glue flies in all directions when they 
are scraping, and a coating of bee-glue on a Sunday gown is 
no great improvement. A common case-knife with a straight 
blade is the tool used for scraping. A seat is used 6 or 8 
inches higher than a common chair. Generally a common 
wooden chair is set on a wooden hive-cover. A little box or 
block 6 or 8 inches in length and width, and perhaps 2 inches 
thick, is placed on the table, and the section put on this 
block to be scraped. All four sides of the sections are 
scraped clean of propolis, and the edges as well. It is not a 
diflScult job for a careful hand, but a very disagreeable one. 
The fine dust of the bee-glue is very unpleasant to breathe. 
A scraper should be a careful person, or in ten minutes time 
he will do more damage than his day's work is worth. Even 
a careful person seems to need to spoil at least one section, 
before taking the care necessary to avoid injuring others. 
But when the knife makes an ugly gash in the face of a 
beautiful white section of honey, that settles it that care will 
be taken afterward. 

PACKi][srG sectio:n's in shipping-ckates. 

The scraper has in easy reach two shipping -crates. In one, 
all perfect sections are put as fast as scraped. In the other 
are put any which are a little off color, either as to comb or 
honey, or which have some cells unsealed. The most 
difficult thing about the packing is to prevent veneering. 
It seems to come so natural, when a particularly white and 
straight section goes into the crate, to put it next the glass, 
best side out at that. But it is especially desirable that the 



94 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

outside shall be a fair index of the entire contents of the 
crate. In the long run there is money to be made by it, to 
say nothing of the feeling of satisfaction. 

Any sections which are not enough filled to go into the 
second-class crate, are set to one side to be extracted, unless 
some of them are saved to be used as bait in supers during 
the next season. The sections to be extracted are put in 
wide frames without separators, uncapped, and extracted in 
a Peabody extractor. If I had much extracting to do, I 




Shippingr-Crate for one tier of Sections. 

should get a better extractor, and I suppose I might have 
something better than a wide frame to hold the sections, but 
I have so little extracting to do that I use just what I happen 
to have. 

After these unfinished sections are emptied of honey, I 
get the bees to clean them. One way is to put a lot of them 
on a hive ; another is to pile them up in supers out-doors, 
covering them up and leaving a hole only large enough for 
one or two bees to pass at a time. If they were left entirely 
open, the sections would be torn to pieces, and possibly rob- 
bing started; but I have never known any harm to result 
where only one or two bees were allowed to pass at a time. 
When cleaned by the bees, these sections are filled into 
supers and piled up in the shop ready for the next season. 

I have used, generally, shipping-crates holding 24 one- 
pound sections, the sections being two tiers high in the crate. 
I have used some holding only a single tier. These latter 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 95 

bear transportation better, but they cost more per pound of 
honey and hardly present so good an appearance. 

KEEFIKG HONEY. 

I have sold a crop of honey before it was all off the hives, 
but latterly I have not generally sold the last of it till 
spring. It is not the easiest thing in the world to keep it 
through the winter in good shape. If kept cold it is apt to 
granulate or candy, as it is usually called. If allowed to 
freeze, the combs crack and look bad, and in time the honey 




Shipping- Crate for two tiers of Sections. 

oozes out of the cracks. Honey is deliquescent, absorbing 
from the atmosphere a large amount of water if conditions 
are favorable. Try putting some common salt in a place 
where you think of keeping honey : if the salt remains dry, 
so would honey. But a place that is suitable at one time 
may not be at another. One year I filled my smoke-room 
with honey. It was a good place for it ; the outside walls 
were thin and the heat of the sun made it a hot place. When 
cold weather came, however, it was a bad place, and the 
lower sections at the back part— beautiful, snowy-white, 
when first put in— became watery and dark-looking. A fire 
for cooking was kept in the adjoining room, and although 
there seemed but very little steam in the air, by the time it 



96 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

got to the back end of the smoke-room, and settled to the 
lower part, there was enough to spoil hundreds of sections. 
You see, warm air is like sponge to take up moisture, and 
cold squeezes the moisture out of it. The point to see to, 
then, is to have no air coming from a warmer place to the 
place where the honey is. I would sooner risk honey in a 
kitchen with a hot fire and plenty of steam, than in a room 
without fire and with a door partly opened into a sitting 
room where no water or steam is ever kept. Indeed, a 
kitchen is quite a good place to keep honey. 

If comb honey became granulated or watery, I know of no 
way to restore it. If for home use, or if one happens to have 
a market where extracted honey sells for a good price, the 
sections may be put in stone crocks, slowly melted, being sure 
it is not overheated, and then when cool, the cake of wax 
may be lifted off the honey. 

The best place to keep comb honey is also the best place 
to keep extracted ; but if extracted honey becomes granu- 
lated or watery, it may be restored to its former, or even a 
better condition. If thin and not granulated, by setting it on 
the reservoir of a cook- stove and letting it remain days 
enough, it will become thick. I suppose you may have 
known this, and also that extracted honey, when granulated 
may be liquefied by slowly heating, but did you know that 
when thin honey is warmed for a long time the flavor is 
improved ? I have had the flavor improved and could attri- 
bute it to nothing but remaining a couple of weeks on the 
reservoir. I do not mean by this that if fine-flavored honey 
in good condition is placed on the stove reservoir it will be 
improved. Most people, however, who have had much to do 
with honey, must have noticed that when extracted honey 
becomes thin from attracting moisture from the atmosphere, 
it seems to acquire a different flavor,— perhaps I might say 
it has a sharp taste — and the slow heating seems to restore 
it partly if not wholly to its former condition. The same 
thing is true of honey which is taken thin from the hive, 
not yet having been brought to proper density by the bees. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 97 

There is a difference of opinion as to whether honey, or 
perhaps nectar, evaporated outside of the hive, is equal to 
that which remains in the hive till thick. Of course, no 
large amount could be evaporated on a stove reservoir. Some 
bee-keepers have large tanks in which to evaporate honey by 
the sun or other heat. 

There is another plan which I have used to secure some 
extra fine honey for private use. Whether it could be used 
profitably on a large scale, I cannot say. There are, however, 
always people who are ready to pay a high price for an extra 
article. After a crock of clover honey has granulated, I turn 
it on its side or upside down, and let it remain days enough 
to drain off all the liquid part. If drained long enough, 
the residue— and this will be nearly all the crockf ul— will 
be as dry as sugar, and when this is liquefied by slow heating 
it makes a delicious article. It will, however, granulate 
very easily a second time. On a larger scale, the liquid 
might be drained off by boring a hole at the lower part of a 
barrel of granulated honey. I spoke of heating clover honey 
in this way : I do not know what other kinds may be treated 
the same way, but I have had some granulated honey of 
smooth, even texture, from which no liquid part could be 
drained. When set to drain, the whole mass would roll 
slowly out. 

MARKETING HONEY. 

I have had no uniform way of marketing honey. I should 
prefer in all cases to sell the crop outright for cash, if I 
could get a satisfactory price ; but many, if not most years, 
I can do better to sell on commission. Judgment must be 
used as to limiting commission-men to a certain price. Some 
commission-men will sell off promptly at any price offered, 
and when sending to such men it is best to name a certain 
figure, below which the honey must not be sold. I have sold 
in my home market, as well as in towns near by, and have 
shipped to nine of the principal cities, and it would be an 
impossibility for me to say what would be my best market 



98 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

next year. Prices vary according to the yield in different 
parts of the country. If shipping to a distant point in cold 
weather, I keep up a hot fire to warm the honey 24 hours 
before shipping. If very cold I wait for a warm spell. On a 
wagon, the length of a section should run across the wagon- 
on a car lengthwise of the car. I always prefer, if possible, 
to load the honey directly into the car myself. Then I know 
that it will carry well, unless the engine does an unreasonable 
amount of bumping. 

Much has been said about cultivating a home market, but 
there are two sides to the matter. If bee-keepers from 
neighboring towns come in and supply my home market at 
two cents per pound less than my honey nets me when 
shipped to a distant market, about all I can do is to leave the 
home market in their hands. I suspect, however, that it 
would have been to my advantage to have paid more attention 
to developing my home market for extracted honey. 

In deciding between a home and a distant market, there 
are more things to be taken into consideration than are 
always thought of. There is breakage in transportation, and 
the greater the distance the greater the risk. If I can load 
my honey into a car myself, and it goes to its destination 
without change of cars, I do not feel very anxious about it. 
On this account a car-load is safer than a small quantity, for 
a full car-load may be sent almost any distance without 
re-shipping. If re-shipped, it is not at all certain how it 
will be packed in a car. I once sent a lot of honey to 
Cincinnati, and when it arrived at its destination, the 
sections were actually lying on their sides ! I suppose the 
railroad hands who packed it in the car at the last change, 
thought the glass was safest from breaking if the case was 
put glass side down. The strangest part about it was that I 
lost nothing by the breakage. The dogged persistence of a 
German consignee obliged the railroad company to pay all 
damage ; for the consignee was that staunch German and 
genial friend of bee-keepers— C. F. Muth. It is the only case 



A TEAR AMONG THE BEES. 99 

in which I have known a railroad company to pay for 
breakage of honey. 

There is less danger of breakage by freight than by express. 
Besides danger of breakage, there is risk of losing in various 
ways. You may not be able to collect pay for your honey. 
If sent on commission, the price obtained may be less than 
the published market report. You have no means generally 
to know how correct the claims for breakage may be. In 
fact, unless you know your consignee to be a thoroughly 
honest man, you are almost entirely at his mercy. A quarter 
or half a pound may be taken off each case by the claim that 
it is custom to reject fractions. Taking all these things into 
consideration, together with the cost of freight and shipping- 
cases, and it must be a good price that will justify a man to 
ship off honey to the neglect of his home market. If shipped 
to be sold on commission, providing he ships to a near market, 
the price should be at least 2% cents per pound more than he 
can get in his home market, to justify his shipping. If he 
ships to a distant market the difference should be still more, 
as the additional freight may make a difference of one cent 
per pound or more, and the risk of breakage becomes greater. 

BEIKGIKG BEES HOME IK THE PALL. 

In the fall, the bees must be brought home from the out 
apiary so as to be wintered in the cellar. If I were in a 
latitude where out-door wintering was safe, I should be glad 
to leave them the year round without moving. I have studied 
somewhat upon some plan by which they might be safely 
left, and am not without hope that sometime cellar wintering 
may be so perfected that I can build at little expense a cellar 
for each out apiary where the bees may be left without 
attention from fall till spring. I have not reached that point 
yet, so I feel obliged to have all my bees brought home in 
the fall. There are always a few things upon which bees can 
work till quite late ; so it is desirable to be as late as possible 
bringing them home. They must, however, be brought 
home early enough so they will be sure of a good flight after 



100 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

being brought home, and before being put into the cellar. 
For the past five years ending with 1885, I have begun 
putting bees into the cellar from Nov. 4 to as late as Nov. 13. 
This makes it necessary to have the bees hauled home by 
about Nov. 1. 

PUTTING BEES INTO THE CELLAE. 

I like to get the bees into the cellar before the hives have 
had a chance to contain any ice or damp combs from congeal- 
ment of the bees' breath. It is also desirable to have the 
outsides of the hives dry, so I do not like to have them go 
into the cellar wet with snow or rain. Perhaps as good a 
time as any is to get them in as soon as possible after a good 
day for flying, commencing in the morning after a cold night ; 
preferably in clear weather. Often, however, I cannot have 
everything just as I want it, and must take it as I can get it. 
For 24 hours before taking in the bees, if not for several days 
before, I open doors and windows of the cellars so as to give 
them a good airing. One of the summer stands is put into 
the cellar, having the back end raised 2 to 4 inches higher 
than the front. This brings a hive, when placed upon this 
stand, 3 or 4 inches from the ground at the front. If I had 
abundance of room I would prefer to have them 6 inches 
higher, as being more free from dampness and mold. The 
cover is carefully lifted from a hive, so as not to disturb the 
bees ; the hive is then carried into the cellar and placed on 
the stand. 

The hive not having been opened for some time before, the 
bees have glued tight the quilt or cloth, so that on carrying 
in, there is no change made on the top. The double hives 
have the piece of lath taken away from the front, although 
this is not always done, perhaps not generally done, till a 
few days after they are in the cellar. After the hive is placed 
on the stand in the cellar, a sheet of newspaper is placed over 
it, then another hive, and so on till five hives are in the pile. 
A hive-cover is placed on the hive at the top of the pile. The 
reason for putting newspaper between each two hives in the 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 101 

pile, is because, sometimes in the spring, when carrying out, 
a hive, when lifted from the pile, pulls the cloth or quilt 
with it from the next hive under it. The bee-glue of the 
quilt becomes attached to the hive over it, and the newspaper 
prevents this. 

Thus in succession, additional piles are brought in, and 
each pile is independent of the others, so that if one happens 
to be jarred, only the hives in that pile are affected by it. 

Often the bees get so warmed up by the middle of the 
forenoon, that they fly out when their hive is lifted to be 
carried into the cellar. In this case the hive is put back on 
its summer stand, and another colony, less wide-awake, is 
taken. But if the rousing up becomes general, operations 
must cease until the after-part of the day or the next morn- 
ing. If for any reason, as the lateness of the season, or the 
fear of an approaching storm, it is thought best to carry in 
a hive whether the bees are willing or not, the entrance 
must be stopped. For this purpose,— as there is no danger 
of suffocation from stopping for a short time— I know of 
nothing better than a large rag or cloth which will easily 
cover the entire entrance. The rag must be dripping wet. 
In this condition it can be very quickly laid at the entrance, 
and being cold and wet the iDees seem to be driven back by 
it, and when the rag is removed in the cellar, few if any bees 
come out. If dry, the bees would sting the rag, and upon its 
removal in the cellar a crowd of angry bees would follow it. 

Sometimes the piles are ranged in a single row, clear 
around the cellar, the entrances facing toward the center 
and the backs 6 inches or more from the cellar wall. At 
other times they are placed in parallel rows across the cellar, 
two rows close together back to back. In every case a clear 
space is left in front of each hive so that I can easily 
approach it. 

If, on carrying in, it should by any means happen that any 
hives are light, and there is fear that feeding may be nec- 
essary before they are carried out in the spring, such hives 
are piled separately where they are easily gotten at and 



102 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

toward spring a frame of honey is given each. As a general 
rule, however, I do not like tinkering at feeding in the cellar, 
and if a dozen hives had among them one that needed feed- 
ing, necessitating the opening and looking into the whole 
dozen, I thing I would rather run the risk of starving that 
one colony than to stir up the other eleven. 

WARMING THE CELLAR. 

As yet, bee-keepers are not agreed as to the requisites for 
successful wintering, and I make no claim to a perfect 
knowledge of this part of the business. I believe, however, 
that severe cold is bad, and in this latitude, 42° north, I have 
known the mercury to reach 37° below zero. I now try to 
keep my cellars at not less than 45°, the thermometer being 
kept in the central part of the cellar. Sometimes the tem- 
perature gets down as low as 36° above, but not often and 
not for a long time. Of tener it stands at 50°. The heat is 
kept up by common small- cylinder stoves, having an inside 
diameter of about 8 inches between the fire-brick. There 
are two in the house-cellar and one in the shop-cellar. I bum 
hard coal in them, and by filling them up at morning and 
at night, this keeps a steady heat day and night, and there is 
not light enough to make any trouble. The expense is about 
$6 per stove for the winter. No matter how warm the 
weather, with very rare exceptions I keep the fires going at 
least lightly. The stove doors are always open. 

In the spring, when there comes early a bright day with 
the mercury at 60° in the shade, and the temperature about 
the same in the cellar, it seems hardly necessary to keep a 
fire going ; but I find by actual experience that I can keep 
the bees quieter with the fire. At least I feel pretty sure of 
it from what observations I have made. Probably that is 
due to the better ventilation caused by the fire. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 103 



YEKTILATION OF THE CELLAR. 

The ventilation of the cellar I consider a very important 
affair. No matter how well ventilated a hive may be, if the 
cellar in which it is placed contains nothing but foul air, how 
can there be good air in the hive ? With good, pure air in a 
cellar, and an open entrance in each hive of 15)1 by 3^ inch, 
I do not feel much anxiety about ventilation. I am not sure 
but I should want a fire in a cellar for the sake of ventilation 
even if not needed for heat. 

Eor the purpose of ventilation alone, the warmer the 
weather the more the fire in the cellar is needed. In zero 
weather, the air in the cellar, even where no fire is kept, is 
so much warmer and consequently lighter than the out-door 
air, that outer air, by its greater weight, forces itself into 
every crack and crevice of the cellar walls, displacing the 
lighter air of the cellar ; and as fast as this fresh air becomes 
warmed, it is in its turn displaced by the outer cold air, and 
so a continuous change of air is kept up. Now suppose the 
air in the cellar stands at 40°, and the out-door air the same : 
there is nothing to change the air in the cellar. If the air 
in the cellar be now heated to 45° its increased lightness 
causes an influx of colder air from the outside, and the ven- 
tilation goes on as before. Of course there must be some 
limit to this, for when the temperature of the cellar goes 
above 60°, the bees show signs of uneasiness ; although Mr. 
Ira Barber claims to have the temperature of his cellar some- 
times as high as 90° without bad results. 

The most diflScult time to keep the bees quiet in the cellar, 
is when a warm spell comes in the fall soon after taking 
them in, or early in the spring. At such times I open up 
the cellar at dark. If very warm, all doors and windows are 
opened wide and by morning generally all are quiet. I leave 
all open as long as possible in the morning ; sometimes till 
noon ; when the bees begin to fly out all must be darkened. 



104 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

1 believe LiiaL it would be a good plan to have the cellar open 
in such a way as would let in the air and keep out the light. 

One morning, March 18, Emma went over to close the 
shop-cellar, the doors having been open all night, and called 
to me that there was as much as a colony of bees flying out- 
side the cellar. The out-door air was 50°, in the cellar 53°, 
and a very bright sun had been shining more than an hour. 
Being broad daylight in the cellar, the bees were well 
aroused, but there were not so very many outside— on the 
wing they made a big show. I took a hive containing a 
light colony and set it beside the door to catch the stragglers 
which were kindly received by the colony. 

SUB-YEJS^TILATIOlSr OF CELLABS. 

During warm spells it is more difllcult to keep the bees 
quiet in the shop-cellar than in the house-cellar. With 
doors and windows of the former closed there is no pro- 
vision for ventilation, except through the cracks, or the 
opening of a trap-door overhead. In the house-cellar there 
is a sub-ventilation pipe of 4-inch tile, 100 feet in length and 
4 feet deep. This is, I think, quite inadequate for a cellar 
having 31 by 33 feet for the outside measure of its walls, but 
it is enough to make a very favorable difference. It seems 
to me that the time may come when we shall understand ' 
this matter of sub- ventilation so well that an abundance of 
pure air will always be coming in at such -a temperature that 
there will be no need of artificial heat, and no need to pay 
any attention to the bees from the time they are put in till 
they are taken out. The entrance for air through the sub- 
earth tube should be larger than the exit. Just how large 
it should be for every hundred cubic feet of cellar room, how 
long it should be and how deep, are matters that will per- 
haps be only fully learned by experiment. 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 105 



MICE IN CELLAKS. 



Mice are troublesome denizens of cellars in winter. Even 
if they should be all cleaned out of the cellar before the bees 
are brought in, I am always sure to bring in some in the 
hives. I have fed them bountifully with bread and butter 
daintily covered with the various rat-poisons ; have given 
arsenic mixed with sugar and flour ; and have tried different 
traps, but still I find, every spring, holes gnawed by the mice 
in my nice, straight worker combs. 

CLEANING OUT DEAD BEES. 

Aside from attending to warming and ventilating my 
cellars, and unsuccessfully waging war against the mice, I 
think of no other attention given to the bees through the 
winter, except cleaning out the dead bees. For cleaning the 
dead bees out of those hives which have them— for some 
reason of which I am not yet sure, there are some hives 
which contain scarcely a dead bee— I have a very simple 
tool. It is a piece of round, 3^-inch or smaller iron rod, with 
one end hammered square for about two inches and bent at 
right angles, making something like a hook. With this 
hook I can reach into the hive under the frames and scrape 
out the dead bees. 

1 have a common kerosene hand-lamp with a sheet-iron 
chimney having a little mica window on one side— such as 
is used for heating water on lamps. This serves as a dark- 
lantern, making little light except in one direction. Holding 
the lamp in my left hand, I look in to see whether any live 
bees are in sight. Often I see the cluster near the front of 
the hive, of tener at the center or back part of the hive, the 
bees looking as if dead, so still are they; but in a few seconds 
some one will be seen to stir. In some hives nothing but 
dead bees can be seen, in some a lot of dead bees at the 
entrance with a few live bees crawling around among them, 



106 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

and in others neither dead nor live bees can be seen,— 
nothing but the bottom of the frames and a clean bottom- 
board. In any case I scrape out all the dead bees that I can, 
without disturbing the living. The upper hive in each pile 
I clean standing ; the other four I clean kneeling on an old 
cushion to avoid mashing dead bees with my knees. 

A whisk broom is used to brush off the entrance, and to 
brush out the bees that are on the ground between the hives. 
The bees on the ground are then swept up and carried omt. 
In the early part of the winter they need cleaning once a 
month : later, once in two weeks. 

I formerly thought that great care should be taken to avoid 
any disturbance of bees in the cellar, and it seems to me now 
that noise or jarring, or a light in the cellar, ought to be 
injurious, but considerable observation makes me less afraid 
of it. If the bees are very uneasy, a strong light upon them 
wiU make them fly out, and at such times, as in a warm 
spell in the spring, the cellar must be kept dark. I have, 
however, had the sun shining brightly into the entrance of a 
hive in the cellar without appearing to disturb the bees in 
the least. This was on a morning after the cellar had 
been thoroughly aired all night. 

When it seems troublesome to keep the bees quiet during 
a warm spell in early spring, the sun shining brightly, the 
air still, and the mercury at 50° in the shade— just such a day 
as would give the bees a splendid flight— there is a strong 
temptation to bring them out ; but if the soft maples are not 
yet in bloom I believe they are better in the cellar ; the next 
day may bring cold,chilly winds, and many bees may be lost. 

For instance : On March 19, 1886, the sun shone brightly 
all day, and the weather had been warm for a few days 
previous ; but this day the mercury stood at 74° in the shade, 
and even after dark at 66°, the air still— in every way a 
delightful day. I thought it seemed too bad that the bees 
could not enjoy it ; but my wife reminded me of my own 



A YEAR AMOI^'G THE BEES. 107 

teachings, that the maples were not out, and the bees not 
diseased. So I let the fires go down, and opened up the 
cellars at nights, the bees remaining in. "Within 48 hours 
there came a blustering snow-storm, the mercury went down 
to 25°, I started the three fires, and the bees were not taken 
out of the cellar for a week later. 

So long as the bees are not diseased, and can find no work 
to do abroad, their winter nap had better be continued. 

EXTEACTING WAX. 

Working, as I do, for comb honey, very little wax is 
produced. Bits of comb and wax are, however, constantly 
accumulating, and it is a nice thing to have this melted up, 
and out of the way. The most satisfactory thing I have 
found to melt up small amounts, is an old dripping-pan put 
in the oven of a cook-stove. The door of the oven is open, 
one corner of the pan projects out of the oven, this comer 
being torn open, the inside end of the pan is raised so that 
the wax as it melts may run out of the outside open corner, 
and a stone crock is placed under, to catch the dripping wax. 
In hot weather the pan and crock are put into a close box, 
out-doors, with a sash of glass over the box, and the sun does 
the work nicely. With reflectors properly arranged, the heat 
may be greatly increased, but I have never used anything but 
a common looking-glass; and that very seldom. Do not 
mash up brood-comb when you want to melt it. 

OVEESTOCKING A LOCALITY. 

To a bee-keeper who has more bees than he thinks advisable 
to keep in the home apiary, pasturage and overstocking are 
subjects of intense interest. The two subjects are intimately 
connected. They are subjects so elusive, so diflicult to learn 
anything about very positively, that if I could well help 
myself, I think I should dismiss them altogether from 
contemplation. But like Banquo's ghost, they will not down. 



108 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

I must decide, whether I will or not, how many colonies will 
overstock the home field, unless I make the idiotic determi- 
nation to keep all at home with the almost certain result of 
obtaining no surplus. With what little light I have on the 
matter, I do not care to have more than about 100 in one 
apiary, although I do not know for certain that 125 or 150 in 
a good year would fare much worse. 

ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE. 

I have made some effort to increase the pasturage for my 
bees. Of spider-plant I raised only a few plants. It seemed 
too difficult to raise to make me care to experiment with it 
on a larger scale. Possibly if 1 knew better how to manage 
it, the difficulty might disappear. Or, on other soil it might 
be less difficult to manage. The same might be said of the 
other things I have tried. My soil is clay loam, and hilly, 
although I live in a prairie State. I am at least a mile 
distant from prairie soil. I have tried Alsike many times, 
and never had a good stand but once ; perhaps an acre then. 
I had an acre of as fine flgwort as one would care to see. It 
died root and branch the second winter ; even the young 
plants that had come from seed the previous summer. It was 
on the lowest ground I had, very rich, and much like prairie. 

One year I raised half an acre of sun-flowers. Golden 
honey-plant I never succeeded in getting to blossom. I 
sowed perhaps 20 acres with melilot, and for the result I have 
an acre or so of it growing. I doubt if I shall make any 
further attempt to grow either of the plants I have mentioned, 
except it be melilot. Wherever I have had a patch of it 
started, it seems to hold its own from year to year. Possibly 
also, I may try buckwheat, as some seasons I have had a 
fair yield from that sown by others. Possibly, also, I may 
set out some more basswood trees ; some twenty that were 
set a few years ago produce a few blossoms now. 



INDEX. 



Abundant Stores for Spring 26 

Advantage of Combs for Feeders 26 

Apple Bloom 30 

Arrangement of Hives 16 

Artificial Pasturage lOS 

Baiting Bees in Sections 51 

Bath, to endure heat 64 

Bee-Brush 55 

Bees, bringing home in falL 99 

Bees, putting in cellar 100 

Bees, working without queen 72 

Bee-Veils , 62 

Box to Shake Bees In 50 

Brimstoning Sections 58 

Bringing Bees Home in Fall 99 

Brood-Combs for Feeders 21 

Brood-lS'est, best size of 65 

Candied Comb Honey 96 

Candied Extracted Honey 97 

Cellar, taking bees out of 5 

Cellar Ventilation 103 

Cellar Warming 102 

Changing from Double Hives 88 

Changing Hives 14 

Changing into Double Hives 87 

Chisel for Bee- Work 10 

Clark Foundation Fastener 44 

Cleaning Hives 9 

Cleaning out Dead Bees 105 

Clipping Queen's Wing 80 

Combs for Feeders. . ,....,,.,., , .^. ........ . 21 



110 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

Combs Melting Down 17 

Combs, mending 13 

Contracting Brood-Nest 49 

Cover for Hive 15 

Cross Bees, killing 63 

Cross Bees, killmg queen of 64 

Cutting Foundation Starters 46 

Cutting out Drone Comb 13 

Dead Bees, cleaning out 105 

Disturbing Bees in Cellar 106 

Division-Board 24 

Doolittle's Plan with Swarmers 69 

Double Hive 77 

Double Hives, changing from 88 

Double Hives, changing into 87 

Double Hives, entrance of 88 

Double Hives for Full Colonies 85 

Dress for Hottest Weather 64 

Drone Comb, cutting out 13 

Entrance of Double Hives 88 

Extracted Honey, improving 96 

Extracting Unfinished Sections 94 

Extracting Wax 107 

Fall Feeding 83 

Feeders 20 

Feeders, brood combs as 21 

Feeding, fall 83 

Feeding in Cellar 102 

Feeding in Spring 27 

Feeding Meal 18 

Feeding Syrup 20 

Filling Combs with Syrup 22 

Finding Queen of Swarm 68 

Finding Virgin Queen 80 

Fork for Uncapping 27 

Foundation Fastener 44 

Foundation Starters, cutting 46 

Fumigating Eoom 57 

Fumigating Sections 58 

Further Spring Work 24 

Getting Bees in Sections 61 

Getting Bees out of Sections 55 

Green Wood for Dense Smoke 56 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. Ill 

Hauling Bees 7 

Heat for Ventilation 103 

Heddon Super 37 

Hive-Cover 15 

Hive-Cover, Oil-Cloth 16 

Hive-Cover, Tin 15 

Hives, arrangement of 16 

Hives, cleaning 9 

Hives, Covers and Stands 14 

Hives, how prepared for hauling 7 

Hives, numbering 6, 13 

Hive-Stands 16 

Home Market 98 

Honey Harvest 30 

Honey, keeping 95 

Honey, marketing 97 

Honey Boom 57 

Honey Shipping 98 

Horse, how manage, when stung 8 

Imported Queen 74 

Imported Queen, getting eggs from 76 

Increase by Nuclei 81 

Introducing Queens 81 

Keeping Honey 95 

Knife for Cutting Comb 79 

Leveling Stands 16 

Lightin Cellar 106 

Machine for Emptying T-Supers 89 

Machine for Emptying T-Supers, how to use — 91 

Making Bees Destroy Queen-Cells 70 

Management of Swarming Colonies. . 66 

Market, distant, objections to 99 

Market, home 98 

Marketing 97 

Meal Feeding 18 

Memorandum of Work to be Done 29 

Mending Combs 13 

Mice in Cellars 105 

Mice, keeping combs from 84 

Newspaper for Quilts 53 

Nuclei, uniting 82 

Nucleus Hive 77 

Numbering Hives 6, 13 



112 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

Oil-Cloth Hive-Covers 15 

One-Cent Queen-Cages 68 

Out-Door Feeding 20 

Overhauling, spring 9 

Overstocking 107 

Packing Sections 93 

Pasturage, artificial 108 

Place to Keep Honey 95 

Prevention of Swarming 72 

Prevention of Swarming by Giving Foundation 73 

Prevention of Swarming by Keeping Queenless 78 

Prevention of Swarming by Young Queen 73 

Protection from Stings 62 

. Putting Bees in Cellar 100 

Putting on Supers 49 

Putting Starters in Sections 44 

Putting Together Sections 44 

Putting up the Queen 70 

Queen-Cage for One Cent 68 

Queen-Cells, knife for cutting 79 

Queen-Cells, making bees destroy 70 

Queen, clipping wing of : 80 

Queen, imported 74 

Queen, looking for 12 

Queen of Swarm, finding 68 

Queen, putting in hive 13 

Queen-Rearing 74 

Queens, introducing .81 

Queens, preserving in spring 25 

Queens, profitable age of 75 

Queen, virgin, finding 80 

Quilts. 52 

Rearing Queens 74 

Record Book 7, 12, 14, 29, 80 

Re-numbering Hives 13 

Returning Unfinished Sections 57 

Robber-Cloth 59 

Robbers 60 

Salting Grass at Entrances 29 

Scraping Sections . — 93 



A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 113 

Seat for Apiary 10 

Sections 42 

Sections Cleaned by Bees 94 

Sections, fumigating 58 

Sections Getting attached at Bottom 47 

Sections, getting bees out of 55 

Sections, one-piece 43 

Sections, packing 93 

Sections, putting together 44 

Sections, returning unfinished 57 

Sections, scraping 93 

Sections, taking off 54 

Sections, taking out of T-Sapers 91 

Sections, taking out of wide frames 35 

Sections, thickness of 42 

Sections, -tiering-up 53 

Sections, two kinds in a super 42 

Sections, unfinished, extracting 94 

Sections, unfinished, taking out 92 

Separators, tin vs. wood 49 

Severe Effect of Bee-Stings 5 

Shade for Hives 17 

Shaking Bees in Front of Hive 50 

Shaking Bees off Combs 84 

Sheets 52 

Shifting Supers : 53 

Shipping-Cases 94 

Shipping Honey 98 

Shop for Bee-Work 43 

Size of Starters 47 

Smoker Fuel 56 

Spring Feeding 18, 20 

Spring Overhauling 9 

Stands for Hives 16 

Starters at Bottom of Sections 47 

Starters, Patting in Sections 44 

Starters, size of. 47 

Starting Bees in Sections 33, 51 

Stings, protection from , 62 

Sting, to get out quickly 63 

Stopper for Hives ..... 8 



114 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 

Stoves in Cellar 102 

Sub- ventilation 104 

Super, Heddon 37 

Supers for Wide Frames 32 

Supers, putting on 49 

Supers, shifting. 53 

Supers, time to put on 31 

Super, T 38 

Swarming 65 

Swarming Colonies, management of 66 

Swarms, watching for 66 

Syrup for Fall Feeding 83 

Syrup for Spring Feeding in Hive 22 

Syrup for Out-Door Feeding 21 

Taking Bees out of Cellar 5 

Taking off Sections 54 

Taking out Unfinished Sections 92 

Taking Sections out T-Supers 91 

Taking Sections out Wide Frames 35 

Thickness of Sections 42 

Tiering-up Sections 53 

Time for Taking out Bees 5 

Time of Day for Swarms 67 

Time to Put on Supers 31 

Tin Hive-Covers 15 

Tin vs. Wood Separators 49 

T-Super 38 

T-Super, how to make 39 

Uniformity of Supplies Desirable 43 

Uniting Nuclei 82 

Veils 62 

Yentilation in Harvest 50 

Ventilation of Cellar 103 

Wagon for Hauling Bees 7 

Warming Cellar 102 

Watching for Swarms 66 

Wax, extracting 107 

Weak Colonies in Spring 25 

Wet Kag to Close Entrance 101 

Wide Frames 32 



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ci3sroi3sr:sr-A.Ti, omo. 



My New Hive. 




The engravingr gives a good idea of the hive. 
The brood-chamber is in two sections ; also the 
surplus arrangement, which may be interchanged 
or inverted at will. The cover, bottom-board, and 
top and bottom of each sectional case has one-half 
of a regular bee-space, so that the surplus cases 
with the sections, may be placed between the two 
brood-chambers, or the latter may be transposed 
or inverted— in fact, all parts of this hive are 
perfectly interchangeable. The brood-frames will 
ALii be bored for wires. 

A SAMPLE HIVE includes the bottom-board 
and stand ; a slatted honey-board, and cover ; two 
6-inch brood-chambers, each containing 8 frames ; 
two surplus arrangements, each containing 28 one- 
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For further particulars, address 

James Heddon, 

DOWAGIAC, OTICH. 



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Price, by mail, $1.25. Liberal discount to dealers and to 
clubs. A. J. COOK, Author and Publisher, 

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SEND TO 

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Write for samples free, and Price-List of Supplies, 
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CHAS. DAD ANT & SON, 

HAMILTON, Hancock Co., ILLS. 

BEE-HIVES, 

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OLIVER FOSTER, 

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Is engaged in breeding Improved Strains of Italian Queens 
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Cozxib ZZcney iirrangezixezit. 

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MANUFACTORY 7oR HiVES, SEGTfONS, &G. 

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MAYSVILLE, KY., U. S. A. 



EXGELSIOB WAX - EXTRACTOR. 

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Keep a kettle of hot water ready to 
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STOP^ 1 IL.OOK: BEXjO^SAT 1 1 

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The Orlfclnal 

BINGHAM 

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Doctor smoker (wide shield) . . 3^ inch . . $3 00 
Conqueror 8moker(wide shield) 3 " ..175 

Large smoker (wide shield) 3}4 " . . 1 50 

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Plain smoker 3 " ..100 

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Bingham & Hetherington Honey Knife, 
a inch 115 

To sell again, apply for dozen and ^-dozen rates. Address, 

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E. M. HAYHURST, 

BREEDER OF 

ITALIAN BEES, 

AAA. E. CLARK, 

(SUCCESSOR TO L. C. ROOT.) 

DEALER IN APIARIAN SUPPLIES. 

The Quinby Smoker a Specialty. 

Hives, Sections and all other kinds of Supplies furnished at Lowest 
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Price-List sent free. 

W. E. CLARK. Oriskany, N. Y. 

(Established 1864.) 

BEE - SUPPLIES. 

WHOLESALE AKD RETAIL. 

We furnish everything needed in the Apiary, of practical 
construction, and at the lowest price. Satisfaction guaran- 
teed. Send your address on a Postal Card, and we will send 
you our Illustrated Catalogue free. 

E. KRETCHMER, Coburg, Montg. Co., Iowa. 

1^ I will mail my Eighteenth Annual Price - List of 
ITALIAN, CYPRIAN, AND HOLY-LAND 

BEES, QUEENS, AND NUCLEI, 

AND APIARIAN SUPPLIES, 

to any one sending his name and address on a Postal. 
H. H. BROWN, Light Street, Col. Co., Pa. 



W. J. DAVIS' APIARY. 

(ESTABLISHED 1847.) 
TlilE! ZF-HsTEJST T^YI^E] OIF 

Italian Bees& Queens 

and Choice Comb Honey, Specialties. For Prices, address 

W. J. DAVIS, 1st, (Box 148), Youngsville, Pa. 



EGE 


Prices Reduced. 

TEE "BOSS" ONE-PIECE 

SECTIONS. 


CO 

m 

C3 


ONE -PI 


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Patented June 28, 1881. 

TTTE liave REDUCED the PRICES 

W on One-Piece Sections as follows : 

One-Pound Sections, ^t% m g^^^ 

In lots of mA, oo 

500 to 3,000, ^ 1,000, Sl^*« W 
li^~ For larger orders write for prices. _^| 
J. rORNCROOK & CO., 

5Ctf Watertown, Wis., April 15, 1886. 



Salisbury's 
APIARIAN SUFPLT FACTORY 

CATALOGUE FREE. 
31 S West Genesee Street, GEDDES, N. ¥• 



BOOZS FOB. BSE-SBSFEKS, 

For Sale by Tlios. G. Newman & Son, Cbicago, Ills. 

Bees and Honey, or Management of an Apiary for Pleasure and 
Profit, by Thomas G. Newman.— It is "fully up with the times," in all 
the various improvements and inventions in this rapidly-developing- 
pursuit, and presents the apiarist with everything that can aid in the 
successful management of the honey bee, and at the same time produce 
the most honey in its best and most attractive condition. It embraces 
the following sub j ects : Ancient History of Bees and Honey— Locating 
an Apiary— Transferring— Feeding— Swarming— Dividing— Extracting 
—Queen Rearing— Introducing Queens— Italianizing— Bee Pasturage a 
Necessity— Quieting and Handling Bees— The Management of Bees and 
Honey at Fairs— Marketing Honey, etc. 330 profusely-illustrated pages. 
Price, in cloth binding, $1.00 . 

Apiary Kegister, by Thomas G. Newman.— This is a Record and 
Account Book for the Apiary, devoting two pages to each colony, ruled 
and printed, and is so arranged that a mere glance will give its complete 
history. Strongly bound in full leather. Price, for 50 colonies, $1.00 ; 
for 100 colonies, $1.25; for 300 colonies, $1.50. 

Honey as Food and Medicine, by Thomas G. Newman.— It gives 
the various uses of Honey as Food ; recipes for making Honey Cakes, 
Cookies, Puddings, Foam, Wines, etc. Also, Honey as Medicine, with 
many valuable recipes. It is intended for consumers, and should be 
liberally scattered to help in creating a demand for honey. Price, for 
either the English or German edition, 5 cents— one dozen, 40 cents— 
100 for $2.50—500 for $10.00—1,000 for $15.00. When 100 or more are 
ordered, we will print the bee-keeper's card (free of cost) on the cover. 

Bee-Keepers' Convention Hand Book, by Thomas G. Newman. 
It contains a simple Manual of Parliamentary Law and Rules of Order, 
for the guidance of officers and members of Local Conventions- 
Model Constitution and By-Laws for a Local Society— Programme for a 
Convention, with Subjects for discussion— List of Premium for Fairs, 
etc. Bound in cloth, and suitable for the pocket. Price, 50 cents. 

"Why Eat Honey ? by Thomas G. Newman.— This Leaflet is intended 
for distribution in the Bee-Keeper's own locality, in order to create a 
Local Market. Price, 50 cents per 100 ; 500 copies for $2.25 ; 1,000 copies 
for $4.00. When 300 or more are ordered at one time, we will print 
the honey-producer's name and address free, at the bottom. Less than 
300 will have a blank where the name and address can be written. 

Preparation of Honey for the Market, including the production 
and care of both Comb and Extracted Honey, and Instructions on the 
Exhibition of Bees and Honey at Fairs, etc., by Thomas G. Newman. 
This is a chapter from " Bees and Honey." Price, 10c. 

STTarming, Dividing and Feeding Bees.— Hints to Beginners, 
by Thomas G. Newman. A chapter from " Bees and Honey." Price 5c. 

Bee Pasturage a Necessity, by Thomas G. Newman— Progressive 
views on this important subject; suggesting what and how to plant.— 
A chapter from " Bees and Honey." 36 engravings. Price, 10c. 

Bees inWinter, by Thomas G. Newman.— Describing Chaff-packing, 
Cellars and Bee Houses. A chapter from "Bees and Honey." Price 5c. 

Bienen Kultur, by Thomas G. Newman.— In the German. Price, 
In paper covers, 40 cents, or $3 per doz. 

The Hive I Use, by G. M. Doolittle.— Price 5c. 

Foul Brood, by A. R. Kohnke.— Its origin and cure. Price, 25c. 



BOOKS FOK BES-XISEFEB.S, 

For Sale l>y Thos. G. Ne\nnan & Son, Chicago, Ills. 

Bee-Keepers' Guide, or Manual of the Apiary, by Prof. A. J, 
Cook.— Eleg-antly illustrated, and fully up with the times on every 
subject that intei-ests the bee-keeper. It is not only instructive, but 
interesting- and thoroughly practical. It comprises a full delineation of 
the anatomy and physiology of the Honey Bee. Price, $1.25. 

Quinby's New Bee-Keeping, by L. C. Root.— Its style is plain and 
forcible, making all its readers sensible of the fact that the author is 
master of the subject. Price, $1.50. 

A B C of Bee-Culture, by A. I. Root.— Embraces everything per- 
taining to the care of the Honey-Bee, and is valuable to the more 
advanced bee-keeper, as well as the beginner. Cloth, $1.25; paper, $1. 

Blessed Bees, by John ALiiEN.— A romance of bee-keeping, full of 
practical information and contagious enthusiasm. Price, 75 c. 

The Hive and Honey Bee, by Rev. L. L. Langstroth.— This is the 
work of a master, and will always remain a standard. Price, $2.00. 

Dzierzon's Rational Bee-Keeping.— A translation of the master- 
piece of that most celebrated German authority. Price, bound in cloth, 
$2.00 ; in paper covers, $1.50. 

Queen-Rearing, by Henry AiiiiEY.— A full and detailed account of 
33 j^ears experience in rearing Queen Bees. The cheapest, easiest and 
best way to rear Queens, etc. Price, $li tO. 

Bee-Keepers' Text Book, by A. J. King.— A new edition, revised 
and enlarged. Price, $1.00, bound in cloth. 

Extracted Honey ; Harvesting, Handling and Marketing. — By 
Charles Dadant & Son.— Details their management. Price, 15c. 

Practical Hints to Bee-Keepers, by Chas. F. Muth.— Gives his 
views on the management of bees. Price, 10c. 

The Bzierzon Theory.— The fundamental principles of Dzierzon's 
System of Bee-Culture, as set forth by the Baron of Berlepsch. It was 
translated by the late Samuel Wagner. Price, 15c. 

Dictionary of Practical Apiculture, by Prof. John Phin.— Gives 
the correct meaning of over 500 terms, according to the usage of the 
best writers. A guide to uniformity of expression. Price 50c. 

Moore's Universal Assistant, and Complete Mechanic- 
Contains over 1,000,000 industrial facts, calculations, processes, trade 
secrets, legal items, business forms, etc. Price, $2.50. 

Kendall's Horse Book. — No book can be more useful to horse 
owners. It has 35 engravings, illustrating positions of sick horses, and 
treats all diseases in a plain and comprehensive manner. It has many 
good recipes, etc. Price, 50c., in either English or German. 

Food Adulteration.— What we eat and should not eat. This book 
should be in every family. Price, 50c. 

Scribner's Ijumber and liOg Book.— Gives measurement of all 
V5xids of lumber, logs and planks; wages, rent, etc. Price, 35c. 

Fisher's Grain Tables.— For casting up grain, produce and hay; 
wood measurer, ready reckoner, plowing tables, etc. Price, 40c. 

Hand-Book of Health, by Dr. Foote.— Rules for eating, drinking, 
sleeping, bathing, working, dressing, etc. Price, 25c. 





Hundreds of unsolicited testimonials are 
received from those who are using these 
Extractors, highly commending them for 
ease of operating and general utility, and 
would respectfully refer all who are looking 
for the best Honey Extractor made, to any 
one possessing an Excelsior. 

For 2 American frames, 13x13 inches. .$8 00 



For 2 Langstroth " 10x18 
For 3 Langstroth " 10x18 
For 4 Langstroth " 10x18 
For 2 frames of any size, 13x20 
For 3 " " 13x20 

For 4 " " 13x20 



. 8 00 
..10 00 
..14 00 
..12 00 
..12 00 
..16 00 



The eight and ten dollar sizes are made to 
accommodate those who desire a cheap but 
practical machine. The cans are smaller, 
the sides of the baskets are stationary and 
they have neither covers, strainers or metal 
standards. 

The $12.00 size. 

Several improvements have been made over those of previous 
years, and points of excellence will be continually added to them 
as fast as discovered or suggested— keeping them fully up to the 
present advancing era of bee-keeping, and making the Excelsior an 
extractor only equaled by close imitation, and r.ever excelled. 

The Excelsior is made entirely of metal, and is consequently very 
light, strong and durable, with lugs at the bottom for firmly attach- 
ing to the floor, if desired. 

The Comb Basket having vertical sides, insures the extracting 
power alike for top and bottom of frames. The sides of the basket 
m the $12.00, $14.00 and $16.00 Extractors being movable and inter- 
changeable, greatly facilitate the operation of das-ting before and 
thoroughly cleaning after use, if desired. The basket can be taken 
from or replaced in the can in a moment, there being no rusty nuts 
to remove or screws to take out. 

At the bottom of the can, and below the basket, is a cone or metal 
standard in $12.00, $14.00 and $16.00 Extractors, in the top of which 
revolves the bottom pivot of the basket, thereby giving room for 
sixty to one hundrea pounds of honey without touching the basket 
or pirot below. The cans of the $8.00 and $10.00 sizes are shallow 

THOMAS G. NEWMAN & SON, 
923 & 925 West Madison Street, CHICAGO, ILLS. 



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